Murray Siple

Lives and works in Victoria, BC, Canada

Artist statement

Artist Statement, Murray Siple aka Walletmoth Studios My paintings begin with a shape: a flowing, cloaked figure descended from the Virgin of Guadalupe, first seen over roadside altars and graves during six months in a rough coastal town in Mexico, where I painted with house paint on stolen election signs. Stripped of its religious content, that spirit shape now moves through the portraits I paint today: young adults in mixed media on linen, each a specific person, confronting a planet handed to them in disarray. The portraits argue that this generation deserves the same weight on canvas as any painted before it, a claim I make as a tetraplegic and documentary filmmaker, still composing each painting in the long, held moments I once used behind a camera.

Artwork