'Murmurations' brings chaos and wonder to Chapel Hill with three artists' work

Much like its titular flock of starlings interlacing through the sky, art exhibition "Murmurations" breezes into Chapel Hill this Sunday.

The show, a “visual conversation“ uniting the chaotic, yet deeply human patterns of painter Ross Ford, the dense foliage drawings of Kiki Farish and the multilayered collages of Melinda Fine, will take up residence in the Horace Williams House from Feb. 3 to Feb. 24. 

At first glance, the trio may appear an odd fit. With highly varied styles, the only immediately apparent similarity in the bodies of work is their turbulent abstraction. But look deeper, the artists said, and the connections begin to emerge.

“Our work doesn’t look that similar, necessarily, but we all incorporate some element of chaos,” Ford said. “But it’s all very organized.”

Gazing at the pieces, viewers can see they are stories unto themselves, meditations on everything ranging from the nature of form to cracks in the human psyche.

Farish said the very process of working with the pieces, layer after layer, in conversation with the art, unifies the artists’ diverse approaches. All of the works have underlying structures, she said.  

“Everyone comments on how their process is intuitive,” Fine said, “and they approach the canvas with tabula rasa… allowing the image to guide them, rather than guiding the image.” 

Viewers may wonder what prompted such an evocative name as "Murmurations." Ford said the name comes from the flocking of starlings in nature. 

“Murmurations are an incredible phenomenon, where starlings swarm in wild patterns, often in response to a threat,“ Ford said. “All of us are working around these concepts, these flocks of related ideas that coalesce around a common theme. We started talking back and forth, and it just kind of fit.”

Fine, who initially proposed the title, describes the spectacle as “a beautiful, 3D sky music.” 

With such dense work, as much thematic heavy lifting is done by the viewer as by the art itself, the artists said. The pieces tend to share a loose movement and a localized energy, but all three artists consider their work to be more dialogue than static artifacts. 

Farish hopes viewers see the work as unique and individualistic, and said she hopes the contrast of the three disparate bodies of work helps them stand out in new ways.

“I hope they take away a sense of wonder,” Fine said, “that we artists can come together and represent parts of our inner psyche and manifest them on canvas.”

Ford has a loftier wish. He said he believes art is about documenting the human experience — and with abstract work, he said people tend to connect deeply through feelings.

“And I’m hoping that when people come, they feel this connection, they understand that all of our experiences are shared, that we are linked in human-ness,” Ford said. 

arts@dailytarheel.com