Met with press a couple days ago; they put together this newspaper article. I can’t translate it all… basically it says “Want a hamburger? Get it from Buddha! Taiwanese temple guardians met American Beyonce. Derek Murphy is an American artist who paints East meets West, with cultural images and religious icons. This is really shocking and modern stuff! Murphy’s works are about protecting the environment, globalization and cultural identity…” Then it talks about the gallery and my biography. Damn good article.

———————–UPDATE————————–

I’ve had the article translated. This is what it really says (scroll down for English):

彌勒佛拿漢堡 看見文化激盪

台灣寺廟的門神遇上美國R&B的歌手碧昂絲，會激起怎樣的火花？一手拿漢堡、一手持可樂的彌勒佛，又會呈現怎樣的形貌？來自美國的年輕畫家德瑞克默菲，融合東西文化，加上環保議題，創造出一幅幅震撼力十足的畫作，即日起在藝術天際畫廊展出，透過畫筆，和觀賞者分享由他的視覺觀維看到的世界。

今年30歲的德瑞克默菲(Derek Murphy)雖然年輕，畫作卻已受到肯定，1998年高中畢業時，就獲得全美藝術榮譽協會獎學金，此後10年，他開始環遊世界，分別在歐洲、亞洲遊歷，6年前到台灣生活，並且進入成功大學就讀，即將在最近取得外國語文碩士學位。

藝術天際畫廊負責人葉美瑛表示，德瑞克的創做擅長玩味宗教象徵與大眾文化意識，展現文化宗教領域中，具衝突性的元素，勾勒出爭議性的題材。也因此，他的創作充斥著一股強烈的生命力，展現刺激魅力。

德瑞克「迥異」油畫展，即日起至9月底，在建平三街68號1樓「藝術天際畫廊」展出，8月20日晚間7點30分到9點30分，舉辦藝術家交流座談，對油畫有興趣民眾，可前往參與這場心靈饗宴。

Seeing Cultural Surge－Buddha Holds Hamburgers

What would happen if Taiwan temple door guards meet an American R&B singer, Beyonce? What does it look like if Buddha holds a hamburger and coke? By integrating Western and Eastern cultures, as well as environmental issues, Derek Murphy, a young artist from America, created a series of shocking paintings, which will be displayed in the Art-Skyline Gallery. Derek shared his perspective of the world with viewers by his paintings.

Although Derek is just 30 years old, his paintings have enjoyed significant appreciation. He graduated from high school with a scholarship from the National Art Honor Society, and has traveled around the world for ten years since then. He has been to Europe and Asia. Derek came to Taiwan six years ago, and later entered Cheng Kung University. He has successfully finished a Master’s degree of Foreign Language and Literature.

Ye Mei-Ying, the owner of Art-Skyline Gallery, said that Derek is good at displaying the religious beliefs and popular cultures in his paintings, which demonstrate the conflicting elements in cultural and religious fields, and form controversial issues. That is why Derek’s paintings are full of a strong sense of vitality and demonstrate fascinating charms.

Derek’s “Misfits” oil painting exhibition will be open until the end of September in

68 Jianping 3rd st., Tainan, Taiwan (Art-Skyline Gallery). An art exchange symposium will be held from 19:30 to 21:30 on 20^th, August. Those who are interested in oil paintings are more than welcome to this soul feast.

See it on Facebook!