Elliott Green
Interview with Catherine Murphy

From Tether 4, pages 54–70

Elliott: And about a motif you’ve returned to over and over—stacks, piles, and holes. What is it about that theme that has drawn your attention for such a long time?

Catherine: I think this is universal. I think that it’s almost Jungian. I think this is something our human psyches naturally like. I’ve been thinking about stacking things and piles of things for years and years 58 Studio Shelves, 2008, pencil on paper, 21 1/4 x 23 3/4 inches 59 and years, and when I looked at books—-there would always be that wood between the books—the shelf—and I didn’t like that wood. It was just never right, it was never right; then all of a sudden, it was like Ahhhhhhhh!

Image: Stacked, 2017, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Courtesy the artist and Peter Freeman, Inc. New York / Paris