Charlie Murphy
The Art of Tickling Trout & Other Sensual Pleasures
1 February - 2 March 2003
Catalogue Essay by Cathy Kubicki
Exhibition Images
Workshop Images
Acknowlegements
Charlie Murphy was in residence in August 2002, making new video based work exploring our tactile relationship with animals.
Tickling and stroking act as the core of Charlie's exploration into this relationship; ‘trout tickling’ an apparently sensuous and extraordinary technique for catching fish which involves a hypnotic predation by seducation; the ripplying muscle response by a horse to a fly landing or human stroking; the stroking activity between individuals and their animals.
Charlie collected a wide range of material from various sources including Trout Farms, Horse Fairs, The New Forest Show and domestic settings.
CHARLIE MURPHY
By Kathy Kubicki
Desire lurks deep in the unconscious, and according to Freud marks the place of repressed primitive instincts and drives; "This is the locus where the affair of the subject of the unconscious is played out. And it is not a spatial, anatomical locus, otherwise how could one conceive it in the way it is presented to us? That is as an immense display, a special spectre, situated between perception and consciousness".1 Similarly, at the core of Charlie Murphy’s practice is a special kind of sensuality that makes explicit connections with the forbidden, and with the fear of unspoken desires that can pierce the silence of the unconscious.
Murphy makes visible these primitive attachments and urges as she explores the pastimes and pursuits related to the countryside. Her ideas map out the return of the repressed as she explores the relationship of these pursuits to sexuality, desire and eroticism.
In his exploration of the Dionysian model of transgression, Georges Bataille speaks of the excess of eroticism as something beyond reason; "In relation to the simplified reality that is a limit for mankind as a whole, eroticism is a ghastly maze where the lost ones must tremble".2 Murphy recognises the excess in our dealings with animals where sensuality and power go hand in hand.
The unconscious is a screen on which to project fantasies and Murphy fills our vision with powerful and memorable images that map out the relationship with sex to the handling and controlling of animals. Murphy’s interest in language has revealed a history of rural life and descriptions of every day bucolic activities containing blatant sexual metaphors such as handling, stroking, rubbing, taming, tying up, petting, milking, squeezing.
‘Tickling-Trout’ is one activity where man takes pleasure in his or her power over nature. The tackle and paraphenalia associated with the taming and stabling of horses resembles a fetishistic potlatch of leather and birch. Along with the closeness to animals there is also recognition of the instinctual power of the senses, of touch and smell, of sound and silence, of heat and sweat, private and public, and the ripple of eels and fish in the cool dark and deep recesses of a river that acts as a metaphor for the unconscious.
Murphy’s obsession with nature is her road into desire where excess outstrips the daily routine. She recognises that underneath these rituals there is a whole secret world of unspoken sexuality and pleasure. Murphy’s work provokes the viewers hidden desires and brings us closer to unconscious life, or to what is hidden and repressed made tactile and real through her work.
1. Jacques Lacan, The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis, Peregrine Books 1979, page 45
2. Georges Bataille The tears of Eros, San Francisco 1989, page 69
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Images from the Exhibition
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Gallery 1
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Gallery 2
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Gallery 3
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Images from the Workshops
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Acknowledgements
Charlie Murphy was in residence in August 2002 developing the work for this exhibition. The residency scheme was funded by the Regional Arts Lottery programme through Southern and South East Arts.
Many individuals assisted in the development of the work and both ArtSway and Charlie would like to acknowledge them here:
Rob, Handbag and Neil, Vic, Dave & Jeff, Sean at Forest Koi Carp, James and Sally Murrey, Simon and Carol Austin, Sophie Dobell & Staff at the reptile centre, The Forestry Commission, Julie Hewitt & Cabal Communications, Jack of Prime Television.
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