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| "Heirloom", Murphy, oil, 32"x27" |
This morning Jen and I got onto this old joke, what if the hokey pokey really is what’s it’s all about. We had been talking about how dogs think in pictures and we were talking about it as if we really know dogs think in pictures. Point of fact. And it struck me how often in our individual and collective minds we think we now know the truth. Now we know what the world is made of and all those other people who came before us well they tried and maybe even added in some critical information but now we Know. The hysterical thing is that daily we find out one hard fact or another isn’t quite right, often dead wrong.
Yet being mistaken almost all the time makes not so much impression on our fundamental belief that we know who we are, where we are, why we are here and what to do about it. Study history and it seems as if most all people who came before us knew everything too.
Children often question everything. In Pam Murphy paintings children figure prominently. The children are seriously going about the business of childhood. There is something about the paintings that open a narrative door for the viewer. The stories I hear are frequently compelling. In the paintings we gaze at the child facing their uncertain future with determination, bravery, welcome or worry. We see ourselves and our loved ones.
What I like best about Pam’s paintings is they help us see ourselves as we really are, doing our best. Maybe in the future we will find that we were mistaken, but for now, carry on, do the hokey-pokey.
Yet being mistaken almost all the time makes not so much impression on our fundamental belief that we know who we are, where we are, why we are here and what to do about it. Study history and it seems as if most all people who came before us knew everything too.
Children often question everything. In Pam Murphy paintings children figure prominently. The children are seriously going about the business of childhood. There is something about the paintings that open a narrative door for the viewer. The stories I hear are frequently compelling. In the paintings we gaze at the child facing their uncertain future with determination, bravery, welcome or worry. We see ourselves and our loved ones.
What I like best about Pam’s paintings is they help us see ourselves as we really are, doing our best. Maybe in the future we will find that we were mistaken, but for now, carry on, do the hokey-pokey.
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| "Girl V", Murphy, oil, 24"x23" |
That's what its aaaaaaaaaaall about!
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