GILDED BIRDS

Nicki Murphy, CEO of the River Group, on a portrait of her children.

GB Tell me why you chose this.

NM Paul Wright is a Leicester-based artist that I’ve collected for a number of years. I commissioned him to paint my kids about 10 years ago now. He paints very much in the style of Freud and de Kooning so it’s more a glimpse of someone rather than an actual representation. He paints with with big brushes and a palette knife and lots of white which is how the comparison with Freud came about. He originally trained as an illustrator at the Falmouth School of Art and then he got more into painting still life, landscapes and people. I chose my painting because I’m not allowed to choose people for Gilded Birds but my kids are my most favourite things in the world, so it seemed right to pick a picture of them by my favourite artist.

GB It’s a very joyful picture somehow. What do they think?

NM Ali really likes it; Archie’s less keen on it. When Paul first painted I sent it back. I have other paintings of them from different artists that are much more literal. Archie was 13 or 14 when this was painted and I think he expected it to look exactly like them both. Ali’s three years older so she got it. But Paul is an adorable man. I have a self-portrait of him and his wife in my bedroom. He paints mostly very big canvases and because I live in a barn I can fill a lot of wall space with pretty large paintings. Paul is probably my favourite living artist because his painting is so expressive. He’s become quite renowned. He’s been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award a few times and been in a couple of books. He has a longstanding relationship with the Marylebone Gallery which is one of the galleries I buy from. He doesn’t take many commissions so I was quite honoured when he did this. 

GB What’s your most immediate response when you look at the painting – your children’s faces? The colours and the brushstrokes? 

NM It’s in the entrance hall to my house so when you come in it’s the first thing you see. For me, it captures a moment in time. They’re now adults and it was painted when they were both teenagers. I have other paintings of them by different artists when they were younger. It’s like a photograph in the sense that it’s a memory of how they were. Archie’s a strapping young plumber now and Ali’s a very accomplished professional in he advertising world but it’s nice to look back. So in answer to your question, I see them, rather than the artistry. It captures a moment in time.

GB If you could go back in time would you choose the teenage years?

NM No. I’d have them right now. Time passes and it’s all precious. I often wonder if there was a fire, apart from my kids and my animals, what would I save? It would be as much as the art as possible – and I have a lot.

GB Does beauty usually have a sentimental meaning for you?

NM I collect pretty things. I’m a bit of a hoarder actually. I collect art, jewellery, watches, perfume bottles and cars. I like pretty cars so I’m a big Aston Martin fan. I don’t often drive them because I live in the country and the roads are full of potholes; but I look at them because they’re pretty.

GB I don’t normally ask about this but because you own a beauty company and you’re a patron of the Katie Piper Foundation, is physical beauty in humans important?

NM The correct answer is that what’s inside is more important but I know from reading lots of studies that attractive people are something like 27% more likely to be successful. The world, rightly or wrongly, judges physical beauty as aspirational. Look at social media and Instagram filters. Everybody is chasing youth. But working with KPF, I’ve learned to disregard what someone looks like and go for what’s inside much more, but I think that’s something you learn over time rather than necessarily being born with it. Both my ex husbands were very good looking…

GB Is beauty relevant to your work or are there other criteria that make campaigns successful?

NM In marketing and advertising, having something that’s impactful and arresting is more important than something that’s agreeable to look at. Think about the most successful TV ads over time; when I was at Procter and Gamble it was Nanette Newman in a scout tent washing up plates, or the Guinness ad with the horses in the surf that had such strong music. Now advertising has to stop the scroll in the digital world so it has to catch someone’s eye with the word or the image or both. It doesn’t have to pretty, just impactful. Think about the Benetton poster with the newborn baby covered in blood. It made you want to look at it and understand what the thought behind it was. 

GB Do you think it’s a shame that everything has to be immediately arresting?  Is it harder to get people to look at something that might be really beautiful?

NM I think people do look for beauty. There’s been a huge rise in the number of people going to art galleries for instance, and a rise in appreciation for books. Tradition in terms of content is really interesting. Gen Z and Millennials don’t really read but Gen A do. It’s interesting, how things are coming back. I think Covid really helped with that. It’s the same with recycling and pre-loved things. We called it second hand but now there’s an appreciation for caring for things. Beauty is all around us. I live in the country because I love flowers and trees and opens spaces.

GB What makes something worthy of the word Beauty to you?

NM Something that doesn’t get old, something that every time you look at it, it gives you a warm feeling inside. That’s what beautiful art does to me. I’ve only ever bought one painting as an investment and I don’t like it. It’s hidden away in my minstrel’s gallery. I was in New York a couple of weeks ago and I had a whole morning in the Museum of Modern Art by myself and it was wonderful. I can’t paint but it’s such an incredible legacy to be able to translate something into paint that lasts forever. I have a Sotheby’s art curation degree because I’d like to own a gallery one day.