New Directions

• Wed May 04 - Sun May 29

Falls Gallery

J. David Murphy started painting about 50 years ago as a diversion while a law student at the University of Toronto. (The likes of Kandinsky, Morrice, Peploe, Cezanne, Bonnard, Matisse, Caillebotte, Courbet, Liebermann, and others also had an art-law connection!)

He continued studying art, painting and exhibiting during his career as a lawyer (Toronto), law professor (Hong Kong), and judge (Cayman Islands), and later in retirement in Malta. He now lives in his hometown of Barrie, Ontario. He has had numerous one-man and collective shows in Canada and Europe.

The name of this exhibition, “New Directions”, refers to the fact that while for most of his painting career he concentrated on impressionistic landscapes and urbanscapes in oil (with a few diversions into Chinese brush painting and watercolours), he has relatively recently branched out into abstract painting in acrylic, and also some portraits and figure studies.

This exhibition at the Falls Gallery, Alton Mill Arts Centre, is the first (non-virtual) public gallery showing of his abstract paintings, though it will also include some representational work as well.

“His paintings contain a vibrant use of colour, with clever colour combinations with subtle values and tones.”

 “His landscape paintings evoke a sense of stillness and contemplation, while his abstract paintings express energy, movement and emotion.”