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