Art Crush: Hey, hot shot! We love MDM!

Michael and his adorable fiancee, Alyson, laughing at all the ladies who can't have him. Photo courtesy of John Schneider.

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot you don’t know about Michael David Murphy. The enigmatic persona he has maintained since arriving in Atlanta is undoubtedly a major reason he has quickly become the city’s #1 art crush. When I sat down with Michael and his lovely fiancée, Alyson, after the opening of his exhibit on the flip side at Spruill Gallery, he was stunned by the realization that the ladies of Atlanta love the MDM.

Now settled in Atlanta and slated to be married on 10/10/2010 (Michael and Alyson met on 5/5/2005), Michael is slammed. When not working with Atlanta Celebrates Photography, he maintains several blogs and numerous ongoing projects. Of his current obsession he tells me,

I keep a list of artists who were once athletes, and vice versa. It’s a terribly short list. One of the things I am most interested in is the relationship between art and athletics. Specifically, because there aren’t a lot of kids in high school who are jocks and athletes who are also making art. I’m really interested about artists who play sports and what the aesthetic of sports is. I’ve been spending a lot of time on that lately, especially cycling and golf.

I’m a cyclist and I play golf. Here’s the deal: I started making videos about golf this spring and hadn’t played in 20 years. Now I play golf all the time. I used to break into golf courses when I was in high school and play for free. This summer I got a free set of golf clubs, so I’ve been breaking into golf courses and paying for free. These things are feeding back onto each other. I’ll be showing some of that stuff at Le Flash.

The funny thing is, I feel like everything I do and enjoy are things I didn’t enjoy 15 years ago. I took a photography class in high school, and then left photography, and then came back. I brewed beer in high school, took a break, and then came back.”

So what steps should one take to reach this level of acclaim in the hearts and loins of ladies all over the South? Michael offers a word of advice as he points at his immaculately styled trouser/button-down vest ensemble: “Not picking out my own clothes helps.” But really, outside of aesthetics, why has MDM won our hearts? After our talk, Michael sent me a list of random facts about his formative years, as there were too many to remember and list in one go. Prepare to be wooed:

1. I took a year off from college to work as a dog handler for a sled-dog musher in Alaska. My left toe got frostbite, and I still can’t feel the end of it. I ate a lot of moose that year.

2. I witnessed first-hand the secret relocation of the capital of Burma from Rangoon to Naypidaw. I watched armed trucks leaving the city filled with office furniture and ferns.

3. Seeing the Northern Lights every night never gets old, especially when they’re green and red.

4. I raced bicycles as a kid, and as an adult, I spent a few months training and rode a few of the mountain stages of the 2001 Tour de France.  The Alps were steep and difficult, and the Pyrenees were unbelievable.

5. The last time I hitchhiked I was picked up by a traveling knife salesman in Salem, Oregon.

6. I lived in a lighthouse off the coast of Maine for a summer while working on a poetry manuscript for my application to graduate school. I’m a writer and I have an MFA in Poetry from the University of Washington. I guess this is not going to sound right, but I got into photography because it’s a hell of a lot easier than getting into writing. (I don’t think I can say that, though.)

7. I used to play mandolin in an old-time country music trio. We had a weekly gig at a Turkish restaurant that served French crepes in a Chinese neighborhood of San Francisco.

8. Best lunches: Saint Sixtus Trappist Abbey in Westvletern, Belgium. Monks brew the best beer. “Joe’s Special” from Molinari’s Delicatessen on Columbus in San Francisco. Fresh fish w/ peppers at the headwaters of the Nile, in dusty Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. My favorite beer right now is from Bamberg, Germany, and it’s called Schlenkerla—it’s a Rauschbeir and it’s smoky. I love it. I also really like Curieaux from Alagash, Maine. We went to the brewery this summer, and it was great.

9. I wrote and recorded a song and music video that aired once, in Los Angeles, on PBS. It was a Schoolhouse Rock-type segment in which the songs explained particular ballot measures. Mine was “Yes on 67″, and I’m glad no one saw it!

10. If you ever catch a bus from Dire Dawa to Harar, Ethiopia, don’t let the chat smugglers stash their plants beneath your seat. It makes for a stressful ride.

Michael David Murphy maintains the photography blogs While Seated, 2point8, and Unphotographable. His photos will be on view in on the flip side at Spruill Gallery through November 7.

Atlanta Art Crush is an interview series brought to you by Susannah Darrow. Now look for profiles of our latest heartthrobs on the last Friday of each month.

Tags: Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Michael David Murphy, Spruill Gallery