The Tantric Pop Art of Julian Murphy

Your most erogenous zone is your mind!

Murphy is one of the few contemporary artists in the world who can truly claim to be originating a new form of expression. His style remains unique and instantly recognisable, even though his subjects and media have constantly evolved from his early creations. His canvases now include furniture, clothing and three-dimensional art as well as over 200 of his beautiful hand drawn masterpieces.

He himself describes his work as "Tantric Pop Art" a cunning combination of eroticism and visual innuendo that emphasises the life-confirming sexuality of our surroundings: in Murphy’s mind, it has been man’s subconscious that have shaped the artefacts, buildings and furniture which make up our environment and everyday world... sex is in the mind’s eye of the beholder. Our sexuality is not only defined by our desires, but in the way we present our selves to the world through highly fetishistic consumer trends.

His success is marking out new territory and Julian has won much critical acclaim from all parts of the world. At the last count, over 650 newspapers and magazines in more than 25 countries have featured his unique work- an eclectic array curiously including, The Times and Sunday Times, Skin Two, New Statesman, Variety as well as the Erotic Review, Playboy, Vogue, Elle, FHM, GQ and Design Week. Television coverage on more than 50 programs which include documentary and news channels have extended from the USA to Japan and Australia, as well as most of Europe. His works have been hung in international exhibitions alongside those of Dali, Picasso, Lennon, Degas, Lictenstein, Hockney, Haring and Warhol... their is even a piece hanging in the famous Moulin Rouge, Paris. Recently his six-month exhibition at the erotic museum of Paris was extended to one year, it proved to be one of the museums most successful events ever since opening 8 years ago, this exhibition has since moved to Hamburg, celebrating ten years of the erotic museum there.

Joseph Khalifa, owner and curator of the Musee de l’erotisme, Paris, says "Murphy is without a doubt one of the top erotic artists working in the world today, his art though is much more than just erotic, it comments on social behaviours in all of our lives, it reflects how we interact with our environment whether animate or inanimate relationships! Our love affairs have gone way beyond those with just people... consumerism is the new seduction and passion in our lives".

Jean-Paul Gaultier is a fan and many serious art collectors and celebrities including, pop superstar Robbie Williams have acquired Julian’s Tantric Pop images. His art is currently exhibited at the all-new erotic museum open on Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, (www.theeroticmuseum.com) an exhibition is also planned for Miami, which is expected to show Summer 2004.

Despite the lightest of touches in his art, Murphy is deadly serious about the messages he wants to put across, believing that art has an important part to play in informing the debates on issues around consenting sexualities, drugs, aids and rape, as well as the wide-ranging definition of what comprises a relationship... in reflecting our environment through consumer items that we are all comfortable and familiar with, then blending them cleverly with sexual practices, politics and comment that we are not! It is a kind of seduction in its self, velvet-clad images that caress the cerebrum rather than the groin. "I would love people to get completely in tune with their own sexuality" he says, "and to have a greater understanding and tolerance of other individuals consenting sexual preferences too".

Julian with his prolific output of over 200 paintings in the last 10 years has plans for much more... developing his art into a whole lifestyle thing! Clothing to glassware, household items to garden furniture... viewing all consenting sexual practices with an intelligent eye, plenty of wit and a strong sense of dignity and equality! Sex and style so rarely go hand in hand these days... Murphy is changing that point of view.