As a child, Joseph Murphy always wanted his art to be on display. In middle school, he would ask his teachers to use the copier so he could distribute his drawings to as many people as possible.

Born and raised in Central New York, Murphy chose to attend Syracuse University, where he studied illustration for his 2007 undergraduate degree and is continuing to do so in the graduate program. Before his professional training, he taught himself how to draw by recreating the images of his favorite “X-Men” characters from trading cards he collected.

Still fine-tuning his craft, Murphy is displaying some of his most recent work around campus, inspired by SU’s landscape.

“It has this old school kind of feel, the brown stones,” Murphy said, referring to SU. “It’s a look and feel that I think is very special. It kind of reminds me of New York City a little bit.”

Café Kubal is displaying Murphy’s art in his second-ever solo exhibit, titled “Where the Vale of Onondaga Meets The Eastern Sky.” It started with a reception on Sept. 19, during which Murphy spoke to guests about the inspiration behind his work. His paintings and drawings will remain at the café until the middle of December, as the semester comes to a close. All pieces on display are for sale.

The café’s media manager, Christina Trout, is responsible for all things visual in the store, including the art presentation, marketing and design of the café. Last semester, a lot of students wanted to display their art onsite, Trout said, and much of it ended up going on the walls to be critiqued for classes.

But while it offered the students a chance to see their art hanging in a more public space, Trout said she wanted to make it look more professional. She said there was a lack of a consistent theme, which made it appear “very amateur,” even though the artwork itself was strong.

This semester, the staff took submissions from more serious artists — students still included.

“We figured if people like to do that, why don’t we give this opportunity to a more established artist who can really use this opportunity to feature their artwork and get their names and work out there for people to see,” Trout said.

The process included “shopping around” on social media and then narrowing down the list of artists who submitted links to their portfolios. After a collaborative effort between Trout and the other managers, Murphy was selected to be the featured artist. Trout said his artwork stood out because of his focus on the campus atmosphere.

Murphy’s current exhibit features about 15 colorful and vibrant prints, all portraying iconic SU buildings and locations. He creates his work using various media, including acrylic paint, watercolor and oil mixed media with tar.

The Syracuse-inspired pieces began as personalized graduation gifts for friends, but when Murphy showed his work to the SU Bookstore and they began selling prints of his Hall of Languages piece, he decided to pursue this university theme and make a series out it. His print of the Hall of Languages is featured in the Café Kubal exhibit, along with images of Hendricks Chapel and Crouse College. In the future, he hopes to focus on buildings that he has not yet captured on the page, such as the Newhouse complex.

He is also currently working on a project that will incorporate some of the pieces from his Café Kubal exhibit. The personal project, entitled “The Doors of Syracuse,” is based on the Doors of Dublin photograph, a photograph poster featuring a collection of various colored doors found along a main street in Dublin, Ireland.

“It’s a doors series, but there is going to be one door representing each of the different colleges at SU,” Murphy said.

About half of the acrylic illustrations have already been completed, but once all of the campus doors are created, Murphy plans to compile all of the images on a small poster and sell prints of it in the SU Bookstore.

After completing the series and his graduate program, Murphy said he would like to teach art at a college level while still freelancing art for children’s books, book covers and music and film productions.

Until then, though, Murphy said he is glad to see his long hours of work appreciated, thanks to his exhibit in Café Kubal.

Published on October 7, 2013 at 11:54 pm

Contact Katie: [email protected] | @ktjrichards
Contact Joe: [email protected] | @joeinfantino