With this new work Murnaghan looks at ideas surrounding pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon involving varying stimulus, wherein the mind perceives patterns in something where none actually exist.
Like previous investigations this process explores facets of spiritual, scientific and psychological phenomena, articulating elements that vibrate at the core of belief.  Past works have used a number of devices to access content; such as advertising the artist’s memory capacity for sale, or free past life regressions and the public composition of a universal hymn.  The results of these endeavors are often presented as installation, sound and moving image, though the form of expression is never fixed.

For ‘All mountains are moving’ Murnaghan has been working with a collection of small Irish beach pebbles, split and polished by his Great Grandfather early in the last century, a sort of post Darwinian pursuit.  This once lost collection has been reassembled and central sections of the stones have been scanned at very high definition.  The revelation of their interior imagery acts as a cipher, communicating meaning and manifesting content throughout the gallery spaces.  An obsessive, animist position is taken; revealing a tension between what is ‘known’ and what may be believed. Some of the works utilize loaded materials such as prophetic lead (molybdomancy), gold and crematorium ash, in an attempt to consider the substance of certainty, possibility and sublime futility. Works float, balance and cast shadows.  Nothing is solid, substantial or immovable, like a mountain.

Statement:

Paul Murnaghan’s work examines the substance of belief. Content is gathered through various experiments, public projects and utopian quests. The results of these are often of an ethereal nature, whilst other formats are dictated by content.  Curating, writing and experiential research are integral parts of Murnaghan’s practice. Recent projects consider an aesthetic of emphatic certainty and frequently attempt to re-inhabit thinking that has lost contemporary credibility.

Paul Murnaghan is an Irish artist based in Dublin. Exhibitions include, ‘Penumbra’ at The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, ‘Melancholy in Progress’ the 3rd Biennial of International Video Art at The Hong-Gah Museum in Taiwan, ‘Blasphemy’ at The Oonagh Young Gallery in Dublin and Memorious as part of MOPE at The Kunsti Museum of Modern Art in Finland. Murnaghan is a recipient of several Arts Council Awards and has been a resident artist at The International Studio & Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York and Platform, Finland in 2008.  He has exhibited extensively, including numerous international group shows, with solo exhibitions in Finland, Estonia, Germany, United States and Ireland.

Murnaghan has developed several arts festivals and exhibitions throughout Ireland.  During his time as Artistic Director/Curator at 5th Gallery at The Guinness Storehouse (2000-03) he brought works by international artists such as Chris Cunningham, Uri Tzaig and Kimio Tsuchiya to Ireland for the first time. Recently he added Bertille Bak and E.S.P. T.V. as part of the exhibition entitled ‘Where is the here if the here is in there?’ at Pallas Projects/Studios in Dublin.