RHINO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2013

 

Davis Murphy major new sculpture

            at  Neoteric Fine Art

 

“Death of Two Worlds” a major new sculpture referencing British Colonialism, Rhino poaching and the passing of historical eras to be unveiled Friday, July 5 2013, 7 to 10 p.m.

 

Last year, Davis Murphy’s life size RHINO sculpture photos by Dalton Portella went viral, garnering international press. But the sculptures have not been exhibited publicly until now.

 

Debuting this Friday at Neoteric Fine Art in Amagansett, NY, “Death of Two Worlds” is a major new piece of a RHINO on a vintage British Bentley. Behind the rise in rhino killings are international criminal syndicates and global economic change. Poachers have gone high-tech, using helicopters, silencers and night vision goggles to meet the growing demand for rhino horn in East Asia, especially Vietnam. The powdered horn fetches tens of thousands of dollars an ounce, more than the price of gold.

 

This sophisticated, ruthless method of poaching means an end to the once romanticized British Safari, where dressed up English gents hunted big game on foot to display the heads as trophys on the walls of their estates.

 

It also means extinction of the wild rhino, whose numbers are dwindling, and even a national park reserve is no safe haven.

 

Murphy, a native of Long Island, is an acclaimed multidisciplinary artist whose years of travel and study have created a body of work that is intensely personal and unorthodox.

 

  Neoteric Fine Art    631-838-7518

 

Story on Murphy in Dan's Papers

 

Lifesize rhinos of mixed media resin, photo location Dirt Lot, Montauk, NY
Sculpture by Davis Murphy and Photos by Dalton Portella

 Black and White Rhino, 2012

 

In a powerful new collaboration that takes on the nearly extinct one ton odd toed ungulate, sculptor Davis Murphy’s life size crash of rhinoceros are surreally captured on film by Dalton Portella.

Hunted for their horns that are reputed to have mythical powers, this rough beast is shown as predator and victim, loner and romantic, powerful and powerless.

Shot on the rocky shores in dead of winter Montauk, NY, the plaintive expression of these endangered megafauna shows that heavy is the head that wears the horn.

  “They are an extreme example of sculptural form, “says Murphy, “expressing  sheer weight and muscularity. It goes back to my love of tire marks on barriers on the highway, you feel the 5 tons of power behind it. I needed to capture the nuances of this huge piece by close contact on film. While researching the mass poaching in Africa, I was floored by the annihilation and finality the images offered. It was hard to look at them. Dalton’s photos express that possible total loss.”

“When Davis approached me about shooting rhinos on the beach in Montauk, I jumped at the opportunity. I love a subject that can inspire a story and many a story can be inspired by this shoot and all the images yet to come from this shoot. I make pictures, I don't just take them,” says Portella.

The photos are available as 13"x19" ink jet open edition. 36"x24" archival pigment print edition of 10. 48"x72" Digital c-print edition of 5, face mounted to UV plexi on aluminum.

Made of resin, the 12 foot long, 5 foot high sculptures are alternately painted and  left translucent, created as a full size statue or as just the horns or head on the wall. A limited translucent edition is lit from behind.

Dalton Portella was born in Miami, Florida. He lived there and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, then on to Parsons School of Design in New York. Dalton lived in New York City for 20 years, painting and working commercially as a freelancer for Miramax for the last ten, retouching their posters and more recently branching into photography, and multi-media design. In 2001 he moved to Montauk, NY.  www.daltonportella.com

Davis Murphy is multidisciplinary artist whose works range from fiberglass post-apocalyptic creatures to delicate bronze figures to a 90-foot herd of thundering copper horses. After studying art at Pratt Institute in NY, he co-founded Artifacts/Wet Paint in South Beach; retrofitted vintage Jaguars; painted Bettie Page on 45-foot yacht sails; and has continuously explored industrial materials as art. His work can be seen at galleries in Vail, Joshua Tree, Montreal, and South Florida. He splits his time between Southampton, NY and Miami.

 

Contact:
Sandra Schulman       Slink Ink       914-216-1482     sandraslink@gmail.com

 

Daily Mail UK Press Link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096056/Rhinos-stalk-Montauk-Beach-New-York-8-000-miles-home-art-installation.html

 

Southampton Press Link:

www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/Montauk/412225/Where-The-Rhinos-Roam

 

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE RHINO

The Conversation, 2012

Couples, 2012

Alone, 2012

Take Flight, 2012

Bryn's Dream, 2012

Attack, 2012

Sunrise at Turtle Cove, 2012

Rhino, Camp Hero 2012

Decapitated, 2012

Poached, 2012

Behind, Ahead, 2102

 

Dalton and Davis, Dirt Lot, Mtk., NY January 2012

Copyright © Davis Murphy

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