Michael Brophy
Opening Reception Thursday, April 6, 5:30–7:00 p.m.
Russo Lee Gallery is pleased to present Suburb of the Sublime by Michael Brophy. This exhibition includes large-scale and smaller paintings about the place where the artist lives, the Pacific Northwest. Brophy explores the interconnectedness of human, natural, and cultural histories—the subtle, often violent interplay between humans and the planet, the story of what is now called the Anthropocene. He states, “there’s no ‘purity’ here; these pictures contain the mess of the world.” Works are constructed in his studio from gathered data in the form of photographs, sketches, and memories. From a distance, the images painted appear whole. On close inspection, the paint dominates and the images dissolve into scrapes, jabs, a smear of line and color. Viewers are presented with awe and wonder in the midst of beauty and destruction.
Michael Brophy graduated in 1985 from the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where he also taught. He has shown extensively in the Northwest in both solo and group exhibitions. His work is in collections including Microsoft, the Multnomah County Library Collection, the Portland Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum, OSU Library in Corvallis, and the City of Portland, OR. Public commissions include Portland’s City Hall, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in Wasco, OR, Mt. Rainier High School in Des Moines, WA, and most recently a series of gouache paintings for the newly built Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, OR.