butch’s sculpture practice came late in life as he searched for a meaningful form of expression and creativity while leaving behind a professional life as a pulmonologist. He was mentored by his long term friendship with Bonnie Baxter and Michel Beaudry, both recognized accomplished artists, giving him hints and encouraging him without dogma. Murphy’s life long partner, an always available critic, Corva, with her foundation in Art History, continues to be a reliable resource and support. butch continues benefiting by the support of the members of Oval Table, an artist salon organized in 2017and other collegial artists. Along with Corva, they formed in 2016 and continue to produce another stimulating organization, The Art Soirée Series, where 2 artists, from all creative venues, quarterly explore, in conversation with an interactive audience, their life of creativity, be it performance or visual arts.
Early on, he exhibited in galleries in Columbia, Missouri, with a solo show of 7 sculptures at the Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art(2018) at Central Methodist University where 2 sculptures remain in the sculpture garden. In 2021, he was approached by Tj Templeton, manager of The Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, to show 7 horse sculptures in the spring of 2022, titled, Selected Works by butch. The exposure opened new excitement for his works with semi permanent sculpture placements at the KC Artist Coalition, HJ Gallery in Brookside, Matfield Green, Kansas, and across from the Kemper at All Souls UU along the Arterie. A Kansas City Art Critic, John Hastings early on commented on butch's sculptures as "that arresting line common to anything neolithic has me looking at all sorts of animals. From horses to humans to pieces by "butch,: who takes that line and finds the sweet spot." His sculptures have also been described by sculptor and Professor, Rick Salafia, as good examples of "analytic abstraction" that doesn't leave the sources behind yet manages to avoid direct representation." Finally butch was encouraged when the late James Brinsfield, painter, trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and inspired by the German Abstract Expressionist, complemented on one of butch's equine abstractions, Impasto, Ode to Braque, with welcomed words, by describing it as "beautiful grotesquely."
With Murphy’s networking, he developed several ongoing venues for public display of his works in Mid Missouri, Kansas Flint Hills, the Kansas City metro area, De Soto, Kansas, South Carolina and Oklahoma. Although he has focused on horses for models, he explores other forms of pure abstraction. After opening his atelier in 2011, he has now completed somewhere about 70 equine abstractions(he's lost count) along with other three dimensional forms.
Early on, he exhibited in galleries in Columbia, Missouri, with a solo show of 7 sculptures at the Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art(2018) at Central Methodist University where 2 sculptures remain in the sculpture garden. In 2021, he was approached by Tj Templeton, manager of The Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, to show 7 horse sculptures in the spring of 2022, titled, Selected Works by butch. The exposure opened new excitement for his works with semi permanent sculpture placements at the KC Artist Coalition, HJ Gallery in Brookside, Matfield Green, Kansas, and across from the Kemper at All Souls UU along the Arterie. A Kansas City Art Critic, John Hastings early on commented on butch's sculptures as "that arresting line common to anything neolithic has me looking at all sorts of animals. From horses to humans to pieces by "butch,: who takes that line and finds the sweet spot." His sculptures have also been described by sculptor and Professor, Rick Salafia, as good examples of "analytic abstraction" that doesn't leave the sources behind yet manages to avoid direct representation." Finally butch was encouraged when the late James Brinsfield, painter, trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and inspired by the German Abstract Expressionist, complemented on one of butch's equine abstractions, Impasto, Ode to Braque, with welcomed words, by describing it as "beautiful grotesquely."
With Murphy’s networking, he developed several ongoing venues for public display of his works in Mid Missouri, Kansas Flint Hills, the Kansas City metro area, De Soto, Kansas, South Carolina and Oklahoma. Although he has focused on horses for models, he explores other forms of pure abstraction. After opening his atelier in 2011, he has now completed somewhere about 70 equine abstractions(he's lost count) along with other three dimensional forms.