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

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.