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Zoe R. Murphy is an abstract painter, focusing her practice on signature 'Double-Canvas' works, that highlight the act of placement or disruption of medium onto surface as the focus of the paintings themselves.

Zoe R. Murphy's (B. 2002) large-scale and signature 'double-canvas' paintings highlight the act of painting as the focus of the works themselves. Murphy's work spotlights the act of placement of paint onto surface, with each mark being viscerally as permanent as the work itself. This idea manifests as intentionally breaking down the surface through using certain paints to disrupt others, or by following Murphy's own working rituals, such as building on the surface by placing paint straight from the tube like a pen, designing the directional journey the work's lines and marks take the viewer around on the surface.

The works themselves are a captivating mix of restrictive ​creation and their own challenging response to abstract work, showcasing a display of primal emotions such as doom, ecstasy, and rage. Murphy utilises a signature way of displaying work: always encasing double-canvas works inside a frame, trapping these displays of emotion indefinitely.

Her recent project ‘Restrictive Prompts’, 

based on her private pre-creation rituals, create the space for a shared idea of taking a variety of contemplative prompts to restrict what you can create, to see what you do create.


Murphy’s work began by restricting how she applied paint onto a surface as well as how little she could use to create a ‘successful’ and interesting body of work. This manifests as Murphy applying paint onto the canvas straight

-from the tube – like a pencil or pen –designing the directional journey her work’s lines and marks take the viewer around on the surface. 

Restrictive Prompts developed from notes written on studio walls, to a prompt set. Murphy re-visited an old note written from late 2022 when she worked as a portrait painter, that read “Make it as small as possible” and re-developed this into a prompt for an abstract painting. This in turn created a small, monochrome, ‘double-canvas’ painting (‘Make it as small as possible, 2024’). From this, she realised that it is possible to create and use contemplative yet restrictive prompts to create work no matter the artist’s chosen style – a cross-medium and perspective tool. The cards also serve as a useful tool for all artists to use, in order to improve their own work’s identity, as well as substantiate challenges and reflectiveness in one’s practice. 

Zoe R. Murphy’s work itself is a captivating mix of restrictive creation and its own challenging response to abstract work showcasing a display of primal emotions, such as doom, ecstasy, and rage. She utilises a mix of a signature way of displaying work and always encasing double-canvas works inside a frame, trapping these displays of emotion forever. 

Graduated in 2024 with a BA(Hons) in Fine Art: Painting from Camberwell College of the Arts, UAL. (Awarded a First Class Honours).

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