Dream

Last night I had a dream. One of my earliest teachers (Murphy) was showing the class of 10 year olds how to meditate (not likely). While we had our eyes closed he walked over and slapped several of us across the face.

It came as quiet a shock and I felt the sting so clearly that it woke me up, sort of.

I realised I was dreaming and found myself semi-awake. In a lucid dreaming state. So I decided it was time for a little revenge. In the dream, which I was now fully conscious of, I stood up and hit him back. He went flying across the classroom, bumped his head off the wall and while he was in that stunned state, I pulled off his tweed trousers (ever so respectable) went to his desk, where he had stashed his bottle of vodka. Poured that over the trousers and set them alight. He woke up at this stage and stumbled to his feet. So I charged and hit him in the stomach with my head. He went flying out the window (first floor) into the playground below. The flaming trousers followed. Then I went back to the meditation with the other students and we all hummed in perfect harmony and contentment.

People sometimes wonder where a cheerful guy like me gets all the anger from. Well folks, a lot comes from being beaten every day in school when I was a lad. That's where my intense dislike for bullies comes from too. Although I really and truly believe in turning the other cheek and working with people, there comes a time and often it's very early in the situation, where a good retort is absolutely necessary. It comes out in my paintings more than anywhere else.

Artparis 08 / The march of the little red dots.

What a great show and so many little red dots. This years Art Fair in Paris was great. It took place in the Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill and runs from the 3rd to the 7th of April. No prefabricated structures here. Just class. Pity about the coffee though, bloody Maxwell House muck.
It was a really enlivening, impressive, colourful, painterly (where did they find all those great painters) and just generally brilliant show. There was a large queue to get in but that's normal, the French love a good queue. I've seen people join them only to get to the end and realise that that didn't really want to be there, so they trail away. There's a sense of solidarity in waiting together.

So why was the ArtParis show so great? There was a lot of art on the walls rather than empty space. There was no sense of boredom in visitors. The displays had a lot of class and each was a bit different to each other, simply creative rather than competitive. There were very interesting effects type art which didn't depend on being plugged in or require a solar panel to work. Just clever. The quality, across the board was really impressive and no one seemed to be trying to foist off bad or boring work on buyers. And there were lots of buyers. I've never seen so many little red dots. Not to mention so many political paintings. Freedom of speech really isn't dead here. It was very impressive.

Here's a selection of photos and video.

The Armory show, NY 08

The famous Armoury show in New York, has been a highlight for art collectors, artists and galleries for many years. It started in the Gramercy Park Hotel during the 1990's. Just like the Carlton arms today but without the great art on the walls.

Last years show was, apparently great. I'd heard lots of good things about it and expected this years to be as interesting or lots better than the FIAC show in Paris last year (which really was great!!). So, when I actually got there it came as a bit of a disappointment. It was really surprising how much bare wall space was on show as opposed to art. This is ironic, the galleries pay about $25,000 per stand to show the artists that they represent. The short video here contains some of the best bits of the show.

It wasn't just American galleries who were there, with almost half being from Europe. So how come it wasn't really exciting, interesting, jaw dropping. How come, almost everything seemed, the same or as though it came from the same box. Some galleries, of course, were great and had very innovative work but there was a general air of vacantness in the majority of stands at the show.

Whether or not it has anything to do with the content, The Armory has been bought by Chris Kennedy's company, Merchandise Mart. Although there is apparently a judging committee which chooses the galleries and the artists they are allowed to show, Mr Kennedy seems to take a very personal attitude towards opinions on the quality of the work hanging there. He has called critism by galleries of the terms of showing "Heresy". He also thinks that "Art Fairs are the future of retail" according to Linda Yablonsky, so perhaps he's not really in this for the love of 'Art'.
Chris Kennedy is of the American Kennedy clan who have a long history as patrons of the arts. Mr Kennedy is looking to expand into other art fairs. Personally, people like him freak me out.

Katie Holten in Manhattan

The evening after arriving, the 28th I went to visit Katie Holtens Exhibition in Manhattan. I'd seen her work a couple of years previously at a really good exhibition in Paris and wanted to see what she was up to now.

The work is a continuation of the theme which she has been diligently working on over the last few years. In the rooms of the first floor gallery she created a sculpted interior forest of dark, tar like trees stripped of their colour and leaves. They lined the walls in one room and in another took center stage. Her studies of withered leaves, in drawn form, covered the walls of the halls and other rooms.

There were a good few people there. In fact it was hard to get in but Katie personally made everyone welcome. Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert is a nice welcoming gallery on the corner of 19th street and 9th avenue. The full address is 148, 9th Avenue, Floor 2, NY, NY 10011
Phone 212.807.9494
www.gassergrunert.net

The ArtBreak Expo

So I dropped in the painting to the gallery on the morning of the 28th and had a peek at the work before it went up. Really impressive. There's a lot of good stuff here.

The gallery itself is enormous, white walls etc, as you would expect. Of course it was in a state before the opening but that's normal. It has good partitions and is really well lit with large windows and great location on a street with five other galleries so it's a good draw for collectors.

On the night of the opening it was in ship shape condition. The crowd arrived early and there were lots of them. Because most of the artists are from Europe, very few could be there but some very interesting contributors did turn up. We learnt more of the history of the place and I can't overstate the lengths that these people have gone to to make art a part of their lives. they are living testaments to what is meant by patrons of the arts. Here are a few photos but I'll post more later.

Very tired after a hard nights debate with other creative people. Oh, here's a shot of Banksy's work.

The Golden Rules

I'm flying to New York in a few hours to exhibit in the Artbreak gallery in Williamsburg with Banksy.

We'll will be showing our art for one month and I hope to ruffle a few feathers and make a noise with this piece called 'The Golden Rules'. It depicts, well you know, 'him', surrounded by his staff, and getting advice from places he shouldn't.

It's a statement on the influence on government by outside interests. The influence of church on state, of business on national policy, on who's really running the country, or who you voted for, without knowing you were voting for them.

The corporate priest is a reflection of the fact that churches in America are basicly a business, seen by many as a tax haven, a place that you can put your dollars and write it off a against tax while basking in the glow of spiritual and community respect or getting the church to act as a mouth piece in promoting your point of view.

The girl in rose pink represents the original settlers and she holds the constitution of the United States in her hands. She's not getting a lot of respect from 'him' in the painting. Lip service galore but no respect. The Mayflowers name was taken from the Epigea repens or Trailing Arbutus, a white and pink flower which has a four petal structure. Hense the colour of her costume.

The 'gag' of the monkeys speaks for itself, hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing. The painting is, oils on canvas with raised lettering and gold leaf. It will be showing in the ArtBreak Gallery for one month from the 29th of March till the 29th of April. The grand opening is on 29th of March from 3pm till 9pm. The address is 195 Grand street, 2nd floor. Williamsburg NY 11211. Tel: 01-718 302 1021

Toms paintings are hanging in the Greenlane gallery in Dingle and the Zozimus gallery in Dublin. To learn more visit his website and/or subscribe to his newsletter. http://www.tjbyrne.com

The Hague Summer Art Exhibiton

The Red Cross, Hague Summer exhibition are looking for artists to exhibit their work this year. There is a link here if you are interested in submitting work.

One of the themes is 'Victims of Armed Conlict'.

They also have a section of their website which promotes the artists works before the event. I'm honored to be the first artist that they chose for the artist of the week.

It only lasts a week so have a look at http://www.artenade.com/hague/ArtistOfTheWeek.aspx

Portrait in tempera

To zoom in on the details in this painting click here.


Here's a photo of a painting that I did in two sessions last week. The first layer is a tempera and the second is oil. One over the other. The basic ingredients of the tempera and the oil are the same. Except that the tempera has the egg added. You do it all yourself, from dissolving the resin, mixing the ground pigment to thickening the oil in the sun for a few weeks. It's that process of being in touch with the materials that makes the painting very personal.

The model was very pleased with the painting too and took a photo of me at work. He's asked me not to post a photo of him beside it but I'm sorely tempted. Anyway here is the painting. It's not finished. There is more to do on it but I want the current paint to dry first, in a couple of weeks.

Exhibition update-Greenlane Gallery

There are four paintings which are on show in the Greenlane Gallery in Dingle, Co. Kerry this month.

They are:

Garcon
Shopping
Negotiations
The Lovers Whisper

I'm very pleased about this because Dingle is one of those special places in the world. It was a pivotal place of change for me several years ago, before I decided to move to France. I was on an artists retreat with some American artists who came over from New Haven. I thought that there would be more Irish artists too but in fact I was the only one.

It rained and rained for two weeks without ceasing. Despite this we walked and explored every day and wrote,talked, painted and went out over the sea to the Blasket Islands. It was boot camp for creatives and I loved it. Thanks to Caoimhghin O'Fraithile, our indestructible & madcap artist guide, we visited many amazing, artistic and historical locations in Dingle and the ring of Kerry. It was formative. The Greenlane gallery, which was in a different building then also opened my eyes to the freshness and purity of the kind of art that a location like Dingle can produce. So it's great to have my work on show there and it's a great gallery.

Exhibitions, shows, competitions and fairs.

Events for 2008
Exhibitions, shows, competitions and fairs. This is a preliminary outline of what is happening in 2008. There will be much more as the year gets going and I'm looking forward to discovering what new things present themselves.

At the moment there are four paintings on show at the Zomimus Gallery in Dublin.

Blue Man, is a painting of a nude holding a ball of gold. He is blue to represent the electric energy of his potential. The gold ball is the focus of that potential. It's painted in oils with gold leaf on canvas.

The Cry, a painting of a mans mouth screaming. My own personal interpretion for this painting is related to the earth but perhaps there is some other inner, unvoiced reason.


Saviour III, a painting of a bird, not in flight but in ascent. His eyes are closed and he is surrendered.

Knight is a painting of a friend riding her horse. She is a horse whisperer in fact. The youngest qualified in France for this unusual profession. Her relationship to the horse is close to the ideal.

The new paintings, which I've uploaded, have the ability to be zoomed in upon. You can see the tiny details of brush strokes when you click on the image and zoom into the area of the painting that you find the most interesting. Try it out and let me know if you like it.


March: My work is on show in New York. The Carlton Arms Gallery in Brooklyn, 29th of March.

March: I'm entering the BP portrait awards in London. It is one of the most prestigious awards with artists from all over the world delivering work for consideration. http://www.npg.org.uk/live/bpmenu.asp

May: I am exhibiting in London at the Batersea Art fair from 16th to the 18th May 2008. http://www.bcaf.info/index.htm

June and July: This summer my paintings will be on show at, Nutshuis, the Hague, the Netherlands, between 7th of June and 5th of July. http://www.thehague.nl/default.asp?id=DOORWAYNEWS-uk

November 2008: The Irish artists Compendium Awards. This is the second award from The Irish Artists Compendium. The ceremony takes place in November but voting is a year long process. Last years was a great success and very good for the profile of Irish artists. It is organised by John Ryan. The award is judged in two stages. The first stage is public and there is a prize of EU500 awarded to ten voters drawn from those who voted for any of the twenty shortlisted artists will each receive a €500 prize. You can enter for the cash prize and out more and register by going to this link. http://www.irishartcompendium.com/awards_home.php