Julian Murphy - "Russian Roulette 2 (HIV/AIDS)" Art Size: 18 x 12" Frame Size: 28 x 22" Limited Edition: 1/10 Giclée - 2001 To Purchase this work - EMAIL THE GALLERY Artist Bio below.

Julian Murphy is one of the few contemporary artists in the world today who can truly claim to be originating a new form of expression. His style remains highly unique and instantly recognisable, even though his subjects and media have constantly evolved from his early creations. His canvases now include furniture, clothing, musical instruments and three-dimensional art as well as more than 250 of his beautiful and painstakingly hand drawn masterpieces.

He himself describes his work as "Tantric Pop Art" a cunning combination of eroticism and visual innuendo that emphasises the life-confirming sexuality of our surroundings: in Murphy’s mind, it has been man’s subconscious that has shaped the artefacts, buildings and furniture which make up our environment and everyday world…sex is in the mind’s eye of the beholder. Our sexuality is not only defined by our desires, but in the way we present our selves to the world through highly fetishistic consumer trends. Murphy says "Much erotic art tends to be about fantasy, the fantasies of the artist, my art is about observations through one set of eyes, just as God created us? we created him in our likeness, in fact i believe everything we create is in our likeness, it is very deep rooted within us. Survival is our strongest instinct, to survive we must reproduce and to reproduce we must indulge ourselves in sex, as Freud points out to us, sex is in essence, everything".

Julian’s success is marking out new territory and he has won much critical acclaim from all parts of the world. At the last count, over 650 newspapers and magazines in more than 25 countries have featured his unique work- an eclectic array curiously including, The Times and Sunday Times, Los Angeles Times, Skin Two, New Statesman, Variety as well as the Erotic Review, Playboy, Vogue, Elle, FHM, GQ and Design Week. Television coverage on more than 50 programs which include documentary and news channels have extended from the USA, Japan, Australia and South America, as well as most of Europe. His works have been hung in international exhibitions alongside those of Dali, Picasso, Lennon, Degas, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Haring and Warhol…their is even a piece hanging in the famous Moulin Rouge, Paris. Recently his six-month exhibition at the erotic museum of Paris was extended to one year, it proved to be one of the museums most successful events ever since opening 8 years ago, this exhibition has since moved to Hamburg, celebrating ten years of the erotic museum there.

Joseph Khalifa, owner and curator of the Musee de l’erotisme, Paris, says…"Murphy is without doubt one of the top erotic artists working in the world today, his art though is much more than just erotic, it comments on social behaviours in all of our lives, it reflects how we interact with our environment…whether animate or inanimate relationships! Our love affairs have gone way beyond those with just people…consumerism is the new seduction and passion in our lives".Many serious art collectors and celebrities, have acquired Julian’s Tantric Pop images. His art is currently on exhibition at the new erotic museum now open on Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood. Most recently Julian exhibited his work alongside other well established artists including Allen Jones and David Hockney at London's Hard Rock Cafe.

Despite the lightest of touches in his art, Murphy is deadly serious about the messages he wants to put across, believing that art has an important part to play in informing the debates on issues around consenting sexualities, drugs, aids, rape and abortion, as well as the wide-ranging definition of what comprises a relationship… in reflecting our environment through consumer items that we are all comfortable and familiar with, then blending them cleverly with sexual practices, politics and comment that we are not! It is a kind of seduction in its self, velvet-clad images that caress the cerebrum rather than the groin. "I would love people to get completely in tune with their own sexuality" he says, "and to have a greater understanding and tolerance of other individuals consenting sexual preferences too".

Newly published, the ‘Ars Erotica; The Best of Modern Erotic Art’ book showcases the most influential and respected artists in this genre. Murphy’s work is included in this volume alongside such respected masters as Picasso, Schiele, Klimt and Giger; validating Julian Murphy’s artworks as among the best in the world.

Julian Murphy is the newly appointed senior ‘Art Director’ of the ‘World Erotic Art Museum’ recently opened on Miami Beach, Florida.

With his prolific output of over 250 paintings in the last 12 years, he has plans for much more… developing his art into a whole lifestyle thing! Clothing to glassware, household items to garden furniture…viewing all consenting sexual practices with an intelligent eye, plenty of wit and a strong sense of dignity and equality! Sex and style so rarely go hand in hand these days…Murphy is changing that point of view.


Quotes:

"Murphy is truly one of the finest erotic artists of his generation, he offers so much more on the subject"
Musee de l’erotisme, Paris

"Very, very original art and always with a sense of humour, sometimes even surprising"
Moulin Rouge, Paris

"Top British artist Murphy brings a real air of legitimacy to the new Erotic Museum on Hollywood Boulevard"
CNN News

"An incredible talent that we know will take him far in the world. We look forward to showing his images at every opportunity"
Hard Rock Café

"There is a moment of discovery in each of Julian’s pieces that takes it across the line from innocent to prurient as the risqué character of these common objects is revealed to the viewer’s mind"
The Erotic Museum, Hollywood

"A super cool and highly sophisticated style of art, cleverly blending eroticism and popular consumer culture, Murphy’s ingenious and witty images have made him one of the most prominent and collectible erotic artists working in the world today"
Vogue Magazine

"Society’s current obsession with sex and consumerism makes for an interesting mix. A fresh and highly unique vision makes this the art of now!"
Elle Magazine