Michael Murphy
Supersonic Modern: Michael Murphy 2015-2025
“My work is inspired by architecture, built and imagined. Formally educated and trained as an architect I have taken a professional detour and attempted to re-imagine the built landscape via personal design studies and various avenues of rendering. I am originally from San Francisco and having spent many years living in London, England. I developed an acute desire to interpret the vastness and solitude of the California deserts and to interject it with a personal interpretation of modern architecture and memory. Upon returning to San Francisco in 2008, I continued this endeavor and was able to reabsorb the influences of the built environment around us firsthand and present my interpretations via varied rendering styles and sometimes scaleless environments coupled with a non-cynical acknowledgment of American consumerism.” – Michael Murphy
Review in 48hills of Supersonic Modern by DeWitt Cheng
Michael Murphy Supersonic Modern Exhibition walk-through video on YouTube
Review: Reviving mid-century wows with ‘Supersonic Modernism’ By DeWitt Cheng
Reviving mid-century wows with ‘Supersonic Modernism’
Painter and graphic artist Michael Murphy’s show at Avenue 12 restores local landmarks to their eye-popping selves.
By DeWitt Cheng
August 4, 2025
In 1981, the satirist Tom Wolfe wrote From Bauhaus to Our House, a witty takedown of the streamlined architectural modernism pioneered at Germany’s Bauhaus school, 60 years before. In its time radical and utopian, the clean-lined Bauhaus aesthetic had become by the 1950s and 1960s the rote style of postwar corporate capitalism in America and allied countries. Wolfe likened the steel and glass towers of the International Style to boxes for refrigerators.
Time magazine art critic Robert Hughes and others counterattacked, pointing out Wolfe’s lack of architectural expertise—lacking as well in art history and theory, the target of his previous book, The Painted Word (1975), about abstract painting—but Wolfe’s witty iconoclasm struck many non-specialist readers as a common-sense, emperor’s-clothes response to fad, fashion, and snobbery.
(If you have seen the 1949 movie based on Ayn Rand’s bestselling novel The Fountainhead, you may remember the scene in which the visionary architect hero played by Gary Cooper appears, bare-armed and sweaty, wielding a jack hammer, keening along the same quasi-iconoclastic lines: a beefcake pinup for the credulous.)
Fads and fashion change, and the creative heroism of one generation becomes the stultifying strait-jacket of the next. We’ll see how the playful, ironic eclecticism of the postmodernists, which superseded the modernist Bauhauslers, plays in coming years, as building and energy costs soar, supply chains constrict. and the superior American standard of living, once thought eternal and absolute, falters. Will we look back on America’s postwar years, often viewed as a white-man’s monoculture, as a lost utopia?
One artist who is clearly fascinated with Modernist architecture is the San Francisco native Michael Murphy, who studied and worked in Mexico, Ireland, and London. Finding the utilitarian aspects of architecture limiting, he began making drawings of the memorable San Francisco buildings of his youth: e.g., the Russell House in the Presidio, and the Buddha and Li Po Lounges in Chinatown. Murphy says, “I wanted to highlight buildings that to me had faded into the background of what people see. They may see them everyday but they don’t actually see them anymore.”
The resultant images, which the artist has dubbed Supersonic Modernism, perhaps due to his affinity for the glamorous Jet Ageand the travel posters of TWA’s David Klein, constitute his “personal interpretation of modern architecture and memory,” commemorating and combining the real and the unreal, “architecture, built and imagined … coupled with a non-cynical acknowledgement of American consumerism.”
Supersonic Modern is the name of Murphy’s small gallery in North Beach, as well as his website, offering fellow Midcentury Modern enthusiasts his stunning prints. The images expertly balancing Cubist collage, Pop color, sleek travel design, and abstract composition to celebrate —with hints of David Hockney and Ed Ruscha—the romance and glamor of modernity. Two abstract collages of airport interiors could almost be by another enthusiast of modern life, Stuart Davis.
Supersonic Modernism is also the name of the current Avenue 12 Gallery show (through August 16) of some 40 small to medium-sized acrylic paintings on canvas from the artist’s Paint and Ink series of the past decade. They allow the artist freedom to, in the terminology of the Abstract Expressionists, “push paint around,” in dialogue with the materials, exploring varied rendering styles and a fuller palette of moods and feelings ranging from witty humor to darker satire on the human condition.
Dark skies streaked with wisps of cloud and smoke and inchoate tangles of improvised abstract brushwork, akin to the dibasic calligraphy of Abstract Expressionism and the motion-blur mists from Francis Bacon’s much-touted “nervous system,” hint at mysteries antithetical to the most advanced machines for living. Murphy’s balance of realism and minimalist abstraction suggests affinities with the mid-century Precisionism of painters Ralston Crawford and Charles Wheeler, whose famed 1955 oil “Golden Gate,” with the deep blue sky framed by the diagonals of the burnt-orange bridge tower, could, aside from the extreme perspective foreshortening, almost be by Murphy.
Michael Murphy, ‘Vaillancourt.’ Acrylic on canvas
Golden Staters will enjoy the artists’s painterly, witty reinterpretation of our longstanding postwar landmarks. For Angelenos, there are the Pan Pacific Auditorium; the hillside stilt houses, including the flying-saucer Chemosphere House; the car-friendly restaurants, Johnie’s and Norms; and the hip and happening Sunset Strip (with its punning title, “Sunset Trip,” and collage composition referring to Sixties drugs and split-screen cinema).
For San Franciscans, there are Marin County’s Civic Center and former Birkenstock headquarters (soon to itself become a museum featuring mid-century design); Telegraph Hill’s bars and restaurants, Upper Grant Avenue’s Savoy Tivoli and Green Street’s Gino and Carlo; and the Transamerica Pyramid, Embarcadero Center, the threatened Vaillancourt Fountain, and the Chinatown Holiday Inn—semi-abstract structures from the ideal city that their designers envisioned; and, finally, three nearly identical stucco houses from The Great Highway, facing the Pacific at Ocean Beach, labeled “The Painted Ladies,” with their unassuming, anonymous aesthetics in witty contradistinction with the postcard-scenic Victorian Painted Ladies of Alamo Square.
It’s a trip back in time, to a present that can still feel like the future.
SUPER SONIC MODERNISM runs through August 16 at Avenue 12 Gallery, SF
Michael Murphy – United Architecture – acrylic on canvas 24×36″ $3000
Le Corbusier inspried architecture in the desert.
Michael Murphy – Two (Larusso Residence) – acrylic on canvas 18×24″ $2800
Dingbat apartments featured in The Karate Kid
Michael Murphy – A Thing About Machines – acrylic on canvas 36×24″ $3400
Chinatown Sheraton is a fine example of SF Brutalism
Michael Murphy – Walking Distance – acrylic on canvas 36×24″ $3400
SF Downtown, Embarcadero Center, painted as a tribute to great architecture.
Michael Murphy – House for the Last Man on Earth – acrylic on canvas 18×36″ $2600
Imagined architecture of a house in the desert.
Michael Murphy – Back There – acrylic on canvas 24×36″ $3000
View from behind SFMOMA. Pared down building details to reveal massing.
Michael Murphy – Lupine – acrylic on board 6×10″ $500. Framed.
Apartment building on Lupine Street in Laurel Heights, San Francisco.
Michael Murphy – Villiancourt – acrylic on canvas 18×24″ $2400
A study of a complex sculpture. When it is fully up and running it’s a an incredible experience.
Michael Murphy – The Mission – gouache on canvas 16×8″ $800. Framed.
A collage of Mission District architecture, with the Russian Hill ‘Eichler Summit’ building added.
Michael Murphy – The Silence – acrylic on canvas 18×24″ $2800
An example of Googie architecture. NORMS opened on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1957
Michael Murphy – Johnie’s on Wilshire – acrylic on canvas 18×24″ $2800
1950s ‘Googie architecture’ at its finest. Johnie’s Coffee Shop at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles
Michael Murphy – Empire State – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ $2400
A dirigible moored in the 1930’s to the Empire State building. Inspired by architectural illustrator Hugh Ferris
Michael Murphy – Pan Pacific – acrylic on canvas 12×12″ $800
Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles. Iconic art deco facade.
Michael Murphy – North Beach Scene – acrylic on wood skate deck 32×8″ $1800
Michael Murphy – Lucky Dice off the Strip – acrylic on panel 6×24″ $1000
Michael Murphy – North Beach Alley Scene – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ $2400
A late night scene at Saroyan Lane, North Beach
Michael Murphy – Abstraction – gouache and acrylic on paper $500. Framed.10x9in
Color composition inspired by jazz
Michael Murphy – Chinatown – gouache and acrylic on paper 12×8″ Framed $900
Chinatown San Francisco
Michael Murphy – Murios – acrylic on canvas 12×12″ $800
Murio’s Trophy Room, a Haight Street haunt with great art deco facade. San Francisco
Michael Murphy – Aub Zam Zam – acrylic on canvas 12×12″ $800
aka Zam Zam (‘Persian Oasis’) at 1633 Haight Street near Belvedere San Francisco
Michael Murphy – You Had to be There – acrylic on canvas 36×18″ $3000
Transamerica pyramid from an atypical point of view.
Michael Murphy – Casa Kahlo/Rivera – acrylic on canvas 18×24″ $2800
House/Studio Museum of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, designed by Juan O’Gorman 1929. Mexico.
Michael Murphy – Galaxy’s Edge – acrylic on canvas 12×24″ $1800
Michael Murphy – Savoy – acrylic on paper 11x14in $1200. Framed.
Grant Avenue abstraction including the Savoy Tivoli
Michael Murphy – The Painted Ladies – acrylic on paper 11x14in $800. Framed.
“Painted Ladies” of the Sunset District San Francisco
Michael Murphy – It’s A Good Life – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ $2400
The facade of the Los Angeles Parker Center, home to LAPD for many years.
Michael Murphy – Four O’Clock – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ Inquire
A fragment of the long gone Pereira designed building LACMA.
Michael Murphy – Eye of the Beholder – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ Inquire
Michael Murphy – The Airport 2 – acrylic on paper 17×10″ Framed. Inquire
Michael Murphy – Sunset Trip – acrylic on canvas 16×20″ Inquire
Los Angeles in the 60s: clubs, go-go girls, and the 1955 Parker Center police station
Michael Murphy – Marin County First Class – acrylic on canvas 14×11″ Inquire
Marin County Civic Center post office by Frank Lloyd Wright
Michael Murphy – A World of His Own – acrylic on canvas 20×30″ Inquire
A very detail-free LA dingbat apartment – simple and elegant
Michael Murphy – Green Street – gouache on paper 19×12″ SOLD
Telegraph Hill abstraction with some local restaurants: Gino and Carlo, Sodini’s, Golden Boy Pizza
Michael Murphy – Night Call – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ Inquire
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Millard House (La Miniatura) in Pasadena. An early use of concrete block construction introduced the modular concept.
Michael Murphy – Frey No 3 – acrylic on canvas 36×24″ SOLD
Iconic Palm Springs architecture
Michael Murphy – The Airport 3 – acrylic on paper 16×11″. Framed. Inquire
Michael Murphy – Before Long – acrylic on canvas 12×24″ Inquire
Imagined desert architecture with the context of atomic bomb testing.
Michael Murphy – Marin Modern – acrylic on canvas 14×10″ $1000
Birkenstock warehouse in Novato California. Unique sculptural parabolic roof structures.
Michael Murphy – What You Need – acrylic on canvas 24×18″ Inquire
Chemosphere House in Los Angles by John Lautner.
Michael Murphy – Scotty’s House – Acrylic on Canvas 13x8in Framed SOLD
Scotty’s House from the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo.
CV
Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, University of New Mexico. 1991.
Exhibitions
2025
Avenue 12 Gallery, San Francisco, “Supersinic Modern”
2024
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, “City Streets” Group Show
2023
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles Group Show
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, “Tiny” Group Show
Napa Valley Museum, “Tiki Dreams,” Yountville Group Show
Flamingo Hotel, “This Is Tiki”Group Show, Santa Rosa
2022
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles,
Group Show Shockboxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, “Intergalactic,”
Group Show Mirus Gallery, San Francisco , “Skate,” Group Show
2021
Gallery 30 South, Pasadena, “The Coaster Show,”
Group Show Studio Gallery, San Francisco, “Tiny” Group Show
2020
The de Young Museum, San Francisco, “The de Young Open,” Group Show
SFMOMA Members Gallery, San Francisco
Gallery 30 South, Pasadena, “Form:Isolation,” Solo Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
2019
The de Young Museum, San Francisco, “The de Young Open,” Group Show
SFMOMA Members Gallery, San Francisco
Gallery 30 South, Pasadena, “Coaster Show,” Group Show
Marin Community Foundation, San Rafael, 3 Person Show
Wonderground Gallery, Disneyland Anaheim, Group Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, “Untitled” 3 Person Show
Wonderland SF Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
SFMOMA Members Gallery, San Francisco Studio Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
2018
Peekaboo Gallery, Pasadena, “Welcome Aboard,” Solo Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
Wonderland SF Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
SFMOMA Members Gallery, San Francisco
2017
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
Studio Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
Wonderland SF Gallery, San Francisco, Group Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
Wonderground Gallery, Disneyland Anaheim, Group Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
2016
111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, Solo Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show
Wonderground Gallery, Disneyland Anaheim, Group Show
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, 3 Person Group Show
SFMOMA MuseumStore, San Francisco
2008-2015 Past Shows
Neutra Gallery, Los Angeles · Studio Gallery, San Francisco · La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles · Wonderland SF Gallery, San Francisco · SFMOMA MuseumStore, San Francisco · 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco · Studio Gallery, San Francisco · Axiom Contemporary Gallery, Santa Monica · American Institute of Graphic Artists International Show, San Francisco · Gallery Nucleus, Los Angeles · San Francisco Travel Association Gallery · Los Angeles Fine Art Fair · Lurie Gallery, Los Angeles · D’Urso Cafe, San Francisco · PariSoma Loft Gallery, San Francisco · Chow Restaurant, San Francisco · Brava Gallery, San Francisco · Terminal 22 Gallery, Oakland · Given Art and Design, San Francisco · Chillin Productions Fashion and Art Show, San Francisco · Terminal 22 Gallery, Oakland · BALS Store Micro Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, Ap-Art Gallery · DeCantine Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland · DVA Gallery, Chicago · Tiki Art Anniversary Exhibition · Op-Art Gallery, London
1101 Lake Street at 12th Avenue
San Francisco CA 94118
415-750-9955