43. Gwen Murphy

About two years ago I started to have an obsession with shoes, mainly nike sneakers. Not buying them but as a form of art. In this generation, especially with sneakers, shoes have so much style and design elements that I just can't dismiss. I have been really trying to find an artist that uses shoes as a form of art. I came across Gwen Murphy, who has a fetish for shoes. Now even though  Murphy's style is differnt than mine, I love her concepts and it's a relief that someone likes shoes as much as I do.

Gwen graduated from Boston University of Fine Arts in 1990 with a conentration in sculpture. Murphy began her series in 2005 and have created almost 60 pair of shoe sculptures, using shoes that were second-hand, cast-offs, or found on the roadside.

" Since I was a very young child I have looked at shoes and found them looking back at me, each pair with its particular personality and facial expression. Mouths yawning open, they sometimes look sleepy, grouchy, or fierce."
~~ Gwen Murphy

I love the fact that each shoe is differnet, sometimes you will see her add different facial expressions to the pair of shoes. She gives a worn look to some shoes and a more clean cut astetic to the shoe. I also like the titles of her shoes, some of the titles are a little funny.
I love her work, I found an artist who likes shoes as much as I do. I may be into painting them but its the fact that I get a excited at looking at hundreds of shoes, deciding which one to create next, just as she does.


Pink Menace

One of my favorite pair besides the Pink Menace is the Plant of the Sneakers, where she has used the them of the planet of the Apes. I just wished she would have had a mean facial expression on the Apes. 

Planet of the sneakers

                                        



T-strap



Mens Dress shoes