Michael Brophy
Lava Field: Crater
2016
oil on canvas
54h x 60w inches
Lava Field: Pit
2016
oil on canvas
54h x 60w inches
Lava Field: Surface I
2016
oil on canvas
54h x 60w inches
Lava Field: Surface II
2016
oil on canvas
54h x 60w inches
Terry's Map (OWYHEF)
2017
ink on paper
48 parts, 12 x 9 inches each
Terry's Map (OWYHEF) (DETAIL)
2017
ink on paper
48 parts, 12 x 9 inches each
Summer 2017: Flame
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Lost
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Monument
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Climb
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Cows
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: B - Reactor
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Hanford High
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Long Haul
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Outage
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Development
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Cell
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Summer 2017: Rest
2017
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Flood No. 2
2017
oil on canvas
14 x 13 inches
Flood No. 1
2017
oil on canvas
14 x 13 inches
Suburb
2016
oil on canvas
22h x 20w inches
Lava Field Pit No. 1
2016
acrylic, oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Lava Field Pit No. 2
2016
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Lava Field Surface No. 1
2016
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Lava Field Surface No. 2
2016
oil on canvas
15 x 16 inches
Cloud
2017
oil on canvas
14 x 10 inches
Cliff
2017
oil on canvas
14 x 10 inches
Rim No. 1
2016
oil on canvas
12 x 11 inches
Rim No. 2
2016
oil on canvas
12 x 11 inches
The Russo Lee Gallery opens 2018 with Recent Work by Michael Brophy. In both small and large paintings, Brophy continues his exploration of the constructed landscape of the Pacific Northwest, where man and nature meet. Lava pits and craters, suburban sprawls and uniform developments are contrasted with eerily superb smooth skies.
Brophy’s haunting work returns him and the viewer time and again to the primordial beauty of the Northwest landscape and our human relationship to it, presenting awe and wonder in the midst of beauty or destruction. Whether endless rows of ancient forest giants or the geometric wall of stacked shipping containers, Brophy’s compelling virtuosity captivates viewers as they are pulled into the places he paints and confronted with a new awareness of the relationship between themselves and the surrounding world.
Paul Sutinen interviews painter Michael Brophy about drawing as a kid, the beginning of his clear-cut forest paintings and his practice as a painter