FIAC 09

Some photos from FIAC 09

It was an interesting exhibition. I didn't get to see it for long (very expensive to visit) because I had to return to the gallery before 2pm and the FIAC show opens at 1pm. The que started an hour before.

Ahhh!! the French love a good que. See those smiling faces. I think Parissians are happiest while having a good group que :)

Killing Pelicans............

You think you're responsible. That you live a decent life, which impacts others to a minimum and that you care about nature!

Which piece of plastic, that you discarded, is in these photos?

Which gas lighter?
Which bottle top?
Which item, that you discarded, got kicked by a shoe, got blown by the wind, ended in a gutter, was washed to the sea, is on it's way to the Pacific, to kill a chick, whose parents don't know the difference.

Look, learn, deactivate an action.
http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11

Make the world a better place.

Plein air, sketching, exhibition

Hey, been doing lots of things on the qt. Yesterday, thanks to an artist friend who looked after the gallery, I was able to go out and join some others at Fontainbleau for Pleine Air Painting. It was really a great day. Well worth taking the time out for. I'm a little ill with a cold as a result because it was freezing but I'm still very glad I went.

Here are a couple of photos.

I've also been doing a lot of sketching on the metro in Paris. The portraits above are of people I've seen on the train recently. It's a nice way to spend a voyage. I might take a day out just to do that, particularly on longer journeys, perhaps to CDG airport etc.

There's an exhibition coming up. Yes, my own work at last, rather than other peoples. It's in Style Pixie gallery. A great, off the beaten track gallery which I really like. It has an underground feel to it. The curator is great and the directress is very inspiring.

Some photos of the upcoming exhibition.

These photos were taken today. It took a lot of time to get everything right. The work of a gallerist and curator are not to be underestimated. It's a lot of preparation and my hat goes off to all those people whose jobs I never understood before.

The marketing side of things does take a fair bit of time too but it's easier now, than initially. Once you set the systems in place and have a good guest list thing are easier.

The paintings and fabric designer were chosen to compliment one another. Geometric forms started me off on this track. Then thankfully I found artists whose work complimented that idea. In this exhibition we see a progression from the geometric to the organic while still keeping the sense of sculpture in the images.

I'm looking forward to the exhibition. It should be a good opening and I'm looking forward to meeting the guests.

Stuff of dreams.

The next exhibition is being installed at the moment. It's called 'The stuff of Dreams'.
It should be compete today and the doors should be open in the afternoon but the grand opening is on Thursday at 6pm.

End of the exhibition & the beginning of another

The painting exhibition came down today. Everyone was very happy and there was a last minute celebration. We also sold one more painting. So I'm pretty happy with that. I'd like to thank Raluka, Cyril, Ximena and JMY for participating. It was great.

The next exhibition is of black and white photography. It's called 'Reflections of Ourselves' and hopes to show how much we have changed in the last quarter century. The photos stretch from the 1980's to the present day. Things have changed a lot. In startling but also very subtle ways.

Here's the invite. Hope to see you there.

Greenlane gallery-sales

I sold seven paintings this week. That's good. In fact it's looking like I sold another to a Canadian couple this evening but it's not certain.

I managed to finish a painting, spoke to my mum on the phone (always a good thing), a friend called in to see me and talk about art. We had a great laugh. She's Polish and can drink whiskey like a guy. I didn't drink any but we had a good talk. Then another recently met friend called into the gallery and invited me to see the antique boutique which he runs on the ile. Lovely place. Seriously good quality antique jewellery, watches and furniture. I love emeralds. Guess it's the Irish in me.

The photography exhibition starts next week. There are three really good artists. I'll post more on that later.

The opening of "Les Lignes du Corps" on the ile Saint Louis.

At the moment I'm the curator of exhibitions in the Greenlane Gallery on the ile Saint Louis. It's 29 rue des deux ponts. Come along to see what's on show. We had the opening on Thursday of "Les Lignes du Corpes" on the 17th at 6pm - 9pm. It went really well and the artists work is terrific. It's based on drawing as the main medium of expression with some colour work by two of the artists to create dynamism and flow. Even with the colour work the lines of drawing are clearly visible.

Ximena de Leon Lucero's work has a lot of symbolism. Her drawings, which are big and extremely powerful dominate the show with rich layers of meaning and subtle messages.

Cyril Réguerre has painted using line. His rich reds and dark figurative symbols coming together to anchor the exhibition.

Raluca Vulcan's work is whimsical but her lines are powerful and beautiful to trace. I've been present while she works and it's an awe inspiring experience.

JYM's work is almost graphic and reminds me of fashion paintings of the top class fashion houses from the 1920's and 40's. Her work is very powerful and done in charcoal on paper, framed in glass.

All four artists work comes together really powerfully and each compliments the other.

I hope you can visit if you are in Paris. The gallery is open every day except Monday, from 2pm till 7pm.

The invitation and photos from the vernissage on the 17th of September.

The film

Over the last few months I've been collaborating with a bunch of film makers here in Paris to produce a mucic video for a singer called "Lenna" which could be used to promote her songs.

Well it was a bit of a disaster. We had worked really hard in the preparation. The storyboards were great (that was my department) and the camera and lighting crew were top class. Seriously impressive. Lenna was incredibly flexible and positive and so were most of the actors.

However, the director sucked (no hesitation in saying that) and the production manager didn't have any experience so it all fell apart on the second day. Producing a good film depends on so many skills coming together very well and communicating clearly, respectfully and with dynamism.

Despite that, the whole experience was remarkably positive. At the break time we all came together and everyone got on very well. The production crew couldn't face everyone else so we ate in a jovial fashion and discussed possible future projects.

If there was a real problem it was that we tried to do too much too fast given the level (across the board) of experience of the people involved. If we had been more evenly matched I think things would have gone perfectly. The creative and technical resources were certainly there.

Here are some photos of the shooting. It was really cool. Most of the (good) photos below were taken by Virgil Shrock. The rest are mine :)

Back from Borgogne

Ah, you don't know what you missed!

Sounds like the opening chapter in a book by an old man to an audience gathered around his death bed.

Well I hope I don't qualify as on my death bed :)
We had a great time in Borgogne. Fantastic might be a better description. The chateau is superb. The weather perfect, the company suitably insane and the food superb. We did paint but not enough. Really and truely we tried but there were so many other things to explore. There was a lot more in the way of drawing going on. Thank goodness for Paul who anchored us all into the world of colour and form. As he painted, he spoke and we were drawn around in fascination.

That got us going and we attempted to bring ourselves to the creative process. It didn't really work but when I look back I think that this week was more of a battery charging exercise and a bonding experience.

We had a wonderful time. It was very creative. We watched movies on a big indoor cinema from 10pm till 3am, every night. Took lots of photos, painted, drew & talked about the past, planned for the future. Drank wine on the balcony and cycled along the canals. It will be even better next year.

Borgogne, Artists retreat

Today is the second day of the artists retreat in Borgogne. It's great!! Really chilled out and the chateau is everything we could have hoped for. It started with breakfast out in the sun.



Everyone is getting on well and the days have been interesting with discussion on art, painting and exhibiting. The location is perfect and the people very welcoming. We found an organic market yesterday and stocked up on vegitables etc. Borgogne is a great area. Perfect for artists. Very interesting and lots of history here too.

Borgogne, NY, Dublin, Paris, exhibitions and events

It's been a very nice summer here. Not as much sunshine as many would like but that just means that there's been less need to water the grass as far as I'm concerned. I like the rain.

It's very quiet at this time of year. Paris empties completely. I can go for walks and draw in the local forest with no chance of being disturbed. If people stuck around they'd realise how nice it is here without the crowds but then there would be crowds so I'd rather they didn't.

So what's up? Well I've had my head down painting and drawing. I'm working with a film crew in Paris to produce a music video.

The prepartations for the chateau artists retreat in Borgogne are well in hand but there's still plenty to organise there.

There are several exhibitions:
One in September in NY at the The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery on Broadway. The exhibition is called "A Book about Death" and it is an homage to Ray Johnson, a celebration of Emily Harvey and a global exploration of Death. There are several hundred artists taking part. It opens on the 10th of September and Matthew Rose is the currator.

Another in October in Dublin. This is a solo show, curated by Tony Strickland. I don't have a lot of details on this yet as a location hasn't been officially pinned down but I'm sure it will be excellent. Lot's of new work in process for this.

In November I'm exhibiting in the StylePixie gallery. For the life of me, I don't understand why I'm so excited by this one, but I am. Really looking forward to it. The stylepixie gallery is great. A lovely off the beaten track, undergroundish and genuinely artistic, incredibly friendly gallery.

In December I have a great exhibition for two weeks in the Greenland Gallery on the Ile Saint Louis. Sur la rue des deux ponts. It's a great gallery and I will be sharing the space with the incredibly tallented Joby Hickey. Joby is a photographer. He specialises in pinhole photography and the results are quiet magical.

I've been getting down to more drawing while experimenting with metal and corrosives. The results are interesting and compelling.

Compelling me to do more, experiment more and develope this unique approach. I love it because it's a development of the sides of painting that usually gets lost in the process. The drawing and the chemistry. The drawing is dramatic, big and surprising and you can say the same for the chemistry, which of course exists in all painting processes but you can rarely see it so clearly at work.

The other thing I've been focused on is the production of smaller works. It started as a project for an upcoming exhibition. One of the constraints was size but it surprised me that I got a great deal of satisfaction from this limitation. It allows me to produce more intimate pieces.

So although this blog has been quiet, it's for a good reason. More soon. I'll post examples of the things that are happening and of the week in Borgogne as it developes.

Craig Hannas paintings

Hi
I recommend anyone who collects art, to go to the LAURENCE ESNOL GALLERY in 40-42, rue des Saint-Pères. Paris 75007. They have an exhibition of Craig Hanna's works on perspex and extracts from his sketchbook. The reflections in my photos make the work harder to see but everything I looked at is great. Lovely lines and a great sense that the artist understands his work. It's not classically painted. It's contemporary with classical skills.

The paint being applied to the perspex creates a shadow of itself on the background colour and gives the paintings a sense of multi-dimensions. I saw reproductions of his work years ago and it was the confidence and obviously natural, unaided drawing, which first attracted me to it. In the flesh, it's much richer.

It's clear that he has more than a fleeting understanding of paint and drawing. This is a person who has dedicated & really immersing himself. Through years of dedication he's brought this to a contemporary level where it speaks with his own personal voice rather than just being a technically good painter.

The art really speaks to the viewer on many levels. There is a purely empathic understanding of another human being caught in paint, the contemporary take on long neglected artistic drawing and painting and the impressive skill and bravery required to do this kind of work.

These combined, really set Craig Hanna apart from the herd. I'm sure anyone collecting and supporting his work now, will be richly rewarded in years to come. Even if you never buy art this is an exhibition well worth seeing and getting excited about.

The gallery staff are very friendly and are fluent English & French speakers.

Bird Bronzed

The little bird didn't die in vain though I'm sure he wouldn't agree. Here's the finished painting / drawing. It's charcoal on paper.

Summer Projects

The weather has been so bad that we barely noticed the spring and most people are still shaking off the winter blues. It's hard to believe it's June.

None the less, it's summer time here again and in Paris that's when people start to meet up, socialise more, dust down their projects and collaborate.

I've joined a film crew in Paris as their storyboard artist. Among the projects that we're working on is a romantic drama about two people who meet online and eventually marry. The script is bound to change but here's a photo of the last meeting with some of the people involved. Actors, directors and crew & myself. The first draft of the first part of the storyboard is below.

Apart from that, I'm still drawing nudes of course. Below is a sketch from last Saturdays session with the live model. She's brilliant and usually creates pretty good poses but it's when she's taking breaks that she looks the most dramatic. If we weren't so busy talking among ourselves, that's when we should be drawing her.

Bird - day 2

I think that this drawing is almost finished now. It's on paper with charcoal. It may be that I'll paint the background. I don't want to ruin the work that I've done so far so I'll have to experiment first.

Bird-leaving his mark

Today I found a barely alive little bird in a neighbors garden. He didn't last very long but he went peacefully. These are very beautiful creatures. So I started drawing him on a large sheet of stretched paper. He's leaving his mark, slowly, but surely.

The sun came out in Paris :)

We had a couple of days of sunshine, something that has been a bit rare this year. So I took advantage and got out as much as possible. There were a couple of parties and I got to the Louvre. That's another couple of things that I've been missing with all this activity lately.

So here are a few photos.

First off, a small party. I've been doing a lot of engraving work this year. Mostly thanks to a bunch of local architects who pushed me into it and motivate me to keep at it. So thanks to Jean-François Vincent for that. The other photo is Pierre who drank too much wine at the little exhibition we had.






I was at a party last night but didn't take any photos. It was in the 10eme. Had a great time at Helen Tangs. Lovely people and mostly artists.

At the Louvre today, there weren't too many people for a change. So I visited the Dutch artists section. I'm incredibly impressed by the work of Pickenoy. Not only are the paintings still in perfect condition but they are fantastically well painted. The paintings are from the 16th century but look as though they were painted yesterday.

No doubth the Louvre restorers deserve a great deal of credit but the paint is uncracked, the colours smooth and beautifully applied and there is incredible grace and aliveness in the portraits. To find a photo with the same life in it would be more than a challenge. I don't think it would be possible. These details are from the portrait of Johanna Le Maire




Here's a marvelous detail from a painting by Gerard Dou.


I also had a wander around the streets of Paris and visited the Palais Royal. There I saw the famous Vefour restaurant. Apart from the great art and the the incredible restaurants there is always something good to see. It's worth wandering around this area anytime the sun is shining but especially on a Sunday as they have students of the academy of music performing classical music on the street.



I'll post more photos of exhibitions etc on my newsletter. Be sure to sign up. It's on the bottom of my homepage. http://tjbyrne.com