Tom Murphy (artist)

Tom Murphy
Born	1949 Whiston, Merseyside, England, UK
Occupation	Artist
Nationality	English

Tom Murphy (born 1949) is an English artist who is best known for his bronze sculptures..

Murphy is a self-taught artist, starting his artistic career initially as a hobby and moved quickly to an intense period of self-study, mastering a range of techniques in many art disciplines.

Previously he worked in a number of occupations which included; a seaman, salesman, musician and impressionist in a pop group.

Later he graduated as a teacher at Liverpool John Moores University and taught art at the Liverpool Community College. He also worked at a Centre for People with Learning Difficulties. His differing careers and interest in the characteristics of people have both acted as a rich source of inspiration in both his paintings and sculptures.

His early experimenting in painting was finally appreciated when he won first prize in the prestigious BBC 'Art 88' competition. His big success in sculpture came in 1996 when his 7" 6' (226.8 centimetres) sculpture of John Lennon was seen by a representative of major Liverpool Company, Littlewoods. He was commissioned to sculpt two monumental size bronzes of the Moores brothers for Liverpool's premier shopping area Church Street. It was on Church Street where he acquired the infamous alter-ego "Tommy-Tonic", after a series of cocktails led him straight into an underground club scene.

His work is all over the city of Liverpool as well as in Chorley, Lancashire, Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, Germany and New York City. He has also sold many smaller works around the world.

He is the first choice of Sculptor for all the major Liverpool institutions and in 2003, he was voted by Radio Merseyside listeners and Liverpool Echo readers as the 76th Greatest Merseysider.

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