NANCY MURPHY SPICER SOME OF THE 100 THINGS
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Cover Image: Nancy Murphy Spicer, Jar with Cherries, 2020, Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches. 2
PAGE BOND GALLERY
NANCY MURPHY SPICER SOME OF THE 100 THINGS AUGUST 27 - SEPTEMBER 26, 2020
1625 WEST MAIN STREET RICHMOND VIRGINIA 23220 USA P 804 359 3633 F 804 355 4854 PAGEBONDGALLERY.COM
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NANCY MURPHY SPICER SOME OF THE 100 THINGS Page Bond Gallery is pleased to present Some of the 100 Things, an exhibition of new paintings by Nancy Murphy Spicer. Often focusing on single objects, the paintings function as meditations on everyday things one might encounter in the home, but usually wouldn’t record. Subjects ranging from a jelly jar, aging onions, and pears are studied and rendered with careful devotion.
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Some of the still lifes seem mundane at first glance, but take on an interesting feel upon closer examination. In one of the paintings, an elephant garlic core is depicted sharp and smooth, like a bone, amidst a pink ethereal background that is both bodily and soft.
The paintings vary from heavy and painterly to light and gestural, many having an atmospheric glow. As a collection, they form a kind of personal diary of life over the past year, at times referencing seasons, family history and events, and significant places.
For Murphy Spicer, this series and project became all the more poignant during this time of the pandemic while in quarantine, creating a circumstance that further focused her attention on the small world within view at home.
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Red Onion with Pear and Palette, 2020 Oil on canvas 28 x 22 inches $3400
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Red Onion in Home Studio, 2020 Oil on canvas 22 x 28 inches $3400
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Some of the 100 Things Installation view
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Striped Sculpture, 2019 Oil on canvas on board 9.25 x 11.25 inches NFS
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Striped Sculpture, 2014 Acrylic on wood 7.5 x 9 x 2.175 inches NFS
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Lake Willoughby Summer Storm Painting, 2020 Oil on board 7 x 7 inches $800 unframed
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Lake Willoughby Summer Storm, 2019 Oil on board 5 x 7 inches NFS
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Rotten Pear Small, 2020 Oil on board 7 x 5 inches $600 unframed
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Pear on Paper, 2020 Oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches $1600
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Red Onion, 2020 Oil on panel 11 x 14 inches $1600
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Red Onion with Paintings, 2020 Oil on canvas 22 x 28 inches $3400
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Jar with Cherries, 2020 Oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches $1600
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Three Pods, 2019 Oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches $1600
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Overripe Pear, 2020 Oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches $1600
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Red Onion in Bowl with Harvest, 2020 Oil on canvas 28 x 22 inches $3400
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Red Onion with Striped Sculpture, 2020 Oil on canvas 22 x 28 inches $3400
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Nancy Murphy Spicer
Lives and works in Charlottesville, VA Education 2018 MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1991 Diploma Program, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston 1979 BFA, St. Mary’s College Solo Exhibitions 2020 Some of the 100 Things, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2019 The New Brag Paintings, St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN 2017 Hiding in Plain Sight, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2016 finding shapes as a way of orienting oneself, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2015 more than momentary: ENJOY, RaumX London, London, UK 2015 Disrupted Drawings, Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA 2012 The Shapes in this Place, 18m Galerie, Berlin, Germany 2012 Biking in Berlin, Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA 2011 re:location, RoosArts, New York, NY 2011 Hanging Drawing Shapes, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME 2007 Provisional, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA 2007 Poured Tape Drawings, Boston Drawing Project, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA 2006 Cardboard Actions, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA Selected Group Exhibitions 2018 Low-Residency MFA Thesis Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 2017 Making Out, Site Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 2017 Summer Group Exhibition, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2016 SHOP, Studio Voltaire Open Studios, London, UK 2015 Feelers: 24th Boston Drawing Show, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA 2015 The Physicality of Color, University of New Hampshire Museum of Art, Durham, NH 2012 Locating Place: 9 Propositions from the Boston Drawing Project, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI 2012 Thinking Through Drawing, Wimbledon College of Art, London, UK 2012 Bristol Diving School Curatorial Exercise #1, Spike Island Test Space, Bristol, UK 2011 Ubersong, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales 2010 Mark Paper Scissors, RoosArts, Rosendale, NY 2010 Traces and Places, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA 2010 Power to the People fundraiser, Feature, Inc., New York, NY 2009 The Act of Drawing, VIVID, Birmingham, UK 2008 Anonymous Drawings #9, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin, Germany 2008 Many Kinds of Nothing: Buddhist Spirit in Contemporary Art, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA 2007 20th Boston Drawing Show, Mills Galley, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA 2004 Seamless, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
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2004 Tufts First Annual, Tufts University, Medford, MA 2004 New England/New Talent, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA 2004 18th Boston Drawing Show, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA 2003 Chris Nau and Nancy Murphy Spicer: Flat Not Flat, Atlanta College of Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2002 Chris Nau and Nancy Murphy Spicer, Green Street Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA 2001-2002 Boston Drawing Project, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA Awards and Residencies 2020 Anonymous Was A Woman Covid-19 Relief Grant 2020 Virginia Commonwealth University, Adjunct Faculty Research Grant 2019 New American Paintings MFA Annual 2018 Virginia Commonwealth University, Adjunct Faculty Research Grant 2016-2018 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Dean’s Scholarship 2017 American Association of University Women (AAUW), Career Development Award 2017 Ox-Bow Artists Residency, Merit Scholarship, Saugatuck, MI 2012 Spike Associates, dOCUMENTA13 Travel Bursary, Kassel, Germany 2011 Spike Associates, Venice Biennale Travel Bursary, Venice, Italy 2010 Spike Associates, Berlin Residency, Berlin, Germany 2009 Spike Associates, Curatorial Grant, For Real, Spike Island 2008 Boston Globe, Ten Best Shows of 2008 for ‘Many Kinds of Nothing’ exhibition 2008 Nomination for Institute of Contemporary Art Boston Foster Prize 2004 International Art Critics Association, Second Place, Best Show in an Alternative Space 2002 Boston Globe, Ten Best Shows of 2002, Green Street Gallery exhibition Selected Publications 2020 Essay on Cy Twombly’s On Returning from Tonnicoda, Material Meanings: Selections from the Constance R. Caplan Collection, Art Institute of Chicago 2018 The New Brag: Erasure and Co-Constitution of Self, MFA Thesis, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2018 WHAT WAS FOUND: The Archive Project, 104-page artists book, Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chronical of 20 years of practice Bibliography 2015 Like the nerd crowned prom queen, Murphy Spicer’s works glory in the awkwardness of it all, Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe 2015 Murphy Spicer makes work that is visually alluring, cerebral, all while being provocatively casual, Shana Dumont Garr, New American Painting blog 2015 New American Paintings Blog, July 2015, Nancy Murphy Spicer’s Disrupted Drawings, Shanna Dumont Garr 2015 Boston Globe, Boston, MA, July 28, 2015, Depictions and Disruptions, Cate McQuaid 2015 Art New England, March/April 2015, The Physicality of Color, Christopher Volpe
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Bibliography continued 2014 Boston Globe, Boston, MA, April 17, 2014, Inspired by Details of a Place, Cate McQuaid 2012 Boston Globe, Boston, MA, August 8, 2012, Reimagining an urban landscape, Cate McQuaid 2012 Zitty Berlin, Der Tagesspiegel, July 27, 2012, Tagestipps (Critic’s Tips) 2012 Biking in Berlin catalog, June 2012, essay by Karin Lelonek 2012 Boston Globe Magazine, June 17, 2012, 10 contemporary works to see now 2009 The Acts of Drawing catalog, VIVID, Birmingham, UK 2008 Boston Globe, December 24, 2008, Top Ten Shows of 2008, Cate McQuaid 2008 Boston Globe, October 25, 2008, ‘Minimalist works help provoke a meditative state,’ Cate McQuaid 2008 Many Kinds of Nothing Catalog, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, October 2008 2007 bigredandshiny.com, December 23, 2007, Drawing the Line at Mills Gallery, David Avruch 2007 Boston Globe, December 20, 2007, Drawing show works around the edges, Cate McQuaid 2005 Art Papers, January/February 2005, Review of ‘Seamless,’ David Hall 2004 Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 15, 2004, ‘Seamless’ a model of beauty, Frederick Koeppel 2004 Seamless brochure, Memphis College of Art, 2004, essay by Cynthia Thompson 2004 Boston Phoenix, March 5, 2004, Goodies at the DeCordova and the Fitchburg, C. Millis 2004 New England/New Talent catalog, Fitchburg Art Museum, February 2004 2004 Boston Globe, February 1, 2004, At ‘The Drawing Show,’ works literally leap off the page, Cate McQuaid 2004 Somewhere indefinable between painting, sculpture and drawing resides Nancy Murphy Spicer’s Drawing Objects, Shawn Hill, South End News 2003 Art New England, November/December 2003, Regional Reviews, Lauren O’Neal 2003 Art Papers, November/December 2003, Reviews, Robin Bernat 2003 Sculpture Magazine, September/October 2003, Review, Marty Carlock 2003 Art New England, June/July 2003, Regional Reviews, Shawn Hill 2003 Flat Not Flat brochure, Atlanta College of Art, May 2003, essay by Lisa Fischman 2002 Boston Globe, December 29, 2002, Best of 2002, Cate McQuaid 2002 Boston Globe, August 23, 2002, Some Edgy Artists Play with Space, Cate McQuaid
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Nancy Murphy Spicer’s work is centered in painting and drawing and its relationship to social, architectural and geographic space. It takes the form of works on paper, paintings, installations, and performance. Murphy Spicer has exhibited her work at galleries and museums in the US and in Europe. Her work has been reviewed and highlighted in Sculpture Magazine, Art New England, Der Tagesspiegel Berlin, and Art Papers. The Boston Globe has twice named her exhibitions among the top ten shows in Boston. She has studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and recently completed a mid-career MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her paintings have been selected to be included in New American Paintings MFA Annual Vol 141. Her essay on the work of Cy Twombly is included in the book accompanying the Art Institute of Chicago exhibition entitled Material Meanings: Selections from the Constance R. Caplan Collection. Her work is held in private collections in the US, Germany, and Japan. Murphy Spicer has taught at The University of the West of England and is currently adjunct faculty at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Virginia Commonwealth University.
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