Pia Murphy leans into curiosity for her latest exhibition at Nicholas Thompson Gallery. Look What I Found is “referring to that experience in childhood of discovering surprising things in nature.” It’s a methodology Murphy uses in her practice, working with the sole intention of honest discovery. “I find planning and controlling is not something I enjoy. It doesn’t feel natural. Not having a plan, throwing away the idea of the end result, frees me up and allows me to just paint.”

The textured, colourful paintings are mostly abstract, though some natural forms emerge—a tree, a butterfly, a fish. The final product is produced through both the application and removal of paint, carving parts away, adding sand to achieve a visceral grittiness. Murphy was trained in printmaking and finds herself referring back to it from time to time. “I’ve discovered the benefits of what I learnt from printmaking, the layering onto canvas, tearing out pieces of paper, and monoprinting across the surface to get surprising results, to lose that control again.” Despite starting with complete ambiguity, there is a cohesion to her works. “As I come to the end of a body of work, I try to tie it all together, to make sure it does look like a body of work.”

Murphy grew up in Melbourne but is now living and working from the regional town Birregurra in Victoria’s south-west, an environment she finds conducive to her creative process. “Nature definitely influences me day to day. It helps me just to get set for the day, to go outside and water the garden and look around, see what’s growing. It allows my mind to relax into a more fluid way of being.”

Look What I Found
Pia Murphy
Nicholas Thompson Gallery
7—24 May

This article was originally published in the May/June 2025 print edition of Art Guide Australia.