Thursday, November 29, 2007

Exhibition of paintings in the Kennedy Gallery, Dublin




Hi
These are two of my paintings which are showing at the Kennedy Gallery, Dublin.

One is called, 'After the Hay' and is a painting in tempera and oil. It's a painting of fields in Brittany, after the Monks of Timadec have cut the long grass and bailed it. 80cm x 64cm

The other is a painting called 'Brittany fields' and is a similar view. It's also in tempera and oil. 80cm x 80cm


There is a vernissage/opening this evening (29th of November) at 7pm. The address is M. Kennedy & Sons Ltd, 12 Harcourt St, Dublin 2. You'll find the exhibition on the first floor. Enjoy the wine and cheese.

Tom

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Art en Capital


The entrance.


Yong Man Kwon, from south Korea now living in the south of France.


View of Korean works and statues by Yvone Cleragerue.


I also visited Art en Capital yesterday. It took place in the Grand Palais des Champs Elysees, Paris.
This is an annual event. An exhibition of artists who are not represented by galleries and who live and work in the centre of Paris.
The first thing that strikes you is the enormous number of artists that are in Paris who are eager to exhibit but who are not represented. The exhibition had several hundred artists. It's very confusing to see this exhibition because there is no jury process and as such you have very good work placed beside not very good work. On the other hand, as the organisers say, the public decides what is good or not.

If you want to, you can reserve an entire 9m stand for your work which protects it from landing beside the work of someone that won't compliment it. It's a bit expensive but as there are thousands of art buyers attending the investment is a good one and great marketing. A lot better value than a particular, Irish art fair, at half the price.

There was some terrific work there. Particularly from visiting Asian artists. Their levels of skill and focus are impressive. In huge contrast with European artists there is an energy and daring in the work that is very strongly restrained. It feels like a wild horse that has been, barely tamed and is only holding itself back enough to perform for a particular moment. Unlike a lot of European art where the artists almost seem bored or going through the motions in their work.

The Asian artists have a lot of academic background and training yet they also have this fierce energy to get out there and express something bigger, better, brighter and stronger. Bursting out of the restraints of their academic training and using that famous focused intensity.

Icons




Yesterday, after setting up in the atelier in Bastile, I visited two exhibitions that I had been curious about. One was in Nation. An exhibition by an Icon Painter who studied in Greece. The exhibition took place in a small gallery on the second floor of the Centre Culturel Franco-Japonais, 8 Passage Turqueti, 75011 Paris. Metro -Nation. The artist is Dominique Groffe.

The artist has reproduced paintings of icons on wood using gold and tempera (egg). I'm interested in this because it's a subject that I'm studying at the moment. By doing the course you learn an enormous amount about the history of painting (as far back as the Egyptians) and you discover some of the most unlikely mediums with which you can paint and which last for thousands of years.

Although I like the artists ability to recreate the icons of past artists, I didn't see anything new being explored in the work. Creating an icon where the subject is religious is like a prayer for many people. A meditation and study of past works and as such gives a great deal of personal pleasure. The original images are full of hidden meanings as well and were not merely decorations. So that is also a study of history in itself.

It's fantastic to see this kind of work still being done. Otherwise it just disappears forever.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Site Update

Hi
My art website is updated. http://www.tjbyrne.com
It took 3 days non stop to do it. There is a lot of new work that needed to be edited and put online.
I'm using Freeway pro. A great piece of software that only works on a Mac and I'm doing it on my new,
tiny, easy to transport, 13" MacBook. It's surprisingly good but I'm still using my 17 inch laptop for the graphics
work as the MacBook doesn't have the neccesary graphics card to make it hum. I bought it mostly for easy
access to a wi-fi signal and it's lightness but I'm generally surprised by how powerful it is.

Have a look http://www.tjbyrne.com and let me know what you think.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Vernissage-Pre Ireland

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Well I'm heading off to Ireland next week and looking forward to meeting all the other artists at Art Ireland. It should be a great time, though I've no doubth, hard work. There won't be a chance for a vernissage or anything like that so we decided to have one here in our house before leaving France.

We needed a good excuse to clean up properly anyway. Things were a little dustier than expected but we managed to turn the house into a gallery for one evening. Have to say, that I'm really amazed and pleased by how many friends and neighbours turned up. It was a full house! Bursting at the seams! We had a great time and the preparation was well worth it. Terrible hangover the next morning. Must have been all the talking. Shouldn't talk and drink at the same time.

Anyway here are some photos. If you are coming to Art Ireland between November 16th-18th drop into stand Q2 and say hello.

Tom