Two Originals at Wildewood Gallery

July 7, 2016

Anita Murphy’s Through the Window.

By Sarah Sobanski

Wildewood Gallery is now showcasing Two Originals.

The show, made possible by local sponsor MG Daly, features local artists Anita Murphy and Rocky Green. It opened last week marking the gallery’s third anniversary in downtown Maynooth.

Murphy and Green, who went to high school together in the area, met recently again after many years apart. It was then that the gallery was inspired.

“We just really like each other’s work, and we like each other as human beings,” said Murphy, listing all the things she and Green had in common.

“And we work well together,” nodded Green.

The two friends paint very differently, but connect over their shared love of painting. They spoke lightly of each other’s work, having trouble deciding on favourites.

“We see the world differently, with different eyes,” said Murphy. Green agreed.

Murphy favours two of her canvases Through the Window and abstract The Future of the Past.

“It means progressing from the life that I had and moving forward, not back,” said Murphy, explaining the emotion that goes into her work. “You can either laugh your way through an abstract, or cry your way through an abstract, but it’s always one or the other.”

Green chose his work The Perils of Gentrification.

“It’s a backyard, a place we stayed at in New Orleans,” said Green, describing the painting. “They’re rebuilding New Orleans right, but there are a lot of things that are getting left behind.”

“Both of our paintings are about the old and the new. How we’re always becoming, becoming, becoming – we’ll die with a paintbrush in our teeth,” laughed Murphy.

“It’s true, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s fixing it up, refurbishing,” said Green.

Two Originals will run until Labour Day weekend. The artists plan to rotate their works throughout the course of the gallery.

Gallery co-owner Joe Shulman said the gallery opening was a success. The art scene in Maynooth is booming for summer tourism. Shulman noted Maynooth is being called the Provincetown of Ontario.

“A lot of artists came out, which is joyous – the support from other artists. People think we’re in competition but it’s not like that,” said Shulman. “They say we have more galleries per square foot than Queen Street West.”