I was contacted during the week by Marietta Gregg who is Marketing Director at
Patience Brewster and I was asked if I would take part in a Q & A. It's part of the Patience Brewster Artist Appreciation Month project and they will be posting links on their social media to the blog posts that they receive. I was delighted to take part, the 5 questions and answers follow.
(1) As a child, do you
recall a significant moment when you felt truly affected or inspired by any
particular artwork or artist?
I don’t
think so, growing up in a rural area in Ireland I didn’t have easy access to
art galleries and I lived a fair distance from Dublin and so I was 18 when I
first visited an art gallery. There was a show titled Northern Nocturnes in the National Gallery of Ireland in 2005. This
exhibition consisted of paintings by Dutch and Flemish artists and I remember
being completely captivated with some of the Rembrandt paintings on display, I
had never seen them in real life or outside of books before that. As a child I
spent a lot of time drawing and I remember winning a trophy in a local art
competition when I was 5. Drawing was just something that I always enjoyed
doing and it went from there.
(2)As an
artist, what do you hope to convey with your work?
At the
moment the focus of my work is superstition and folklore. My goal with this
current body of work is to portray Irish folk figures, such as leprechauns,
pucas and, at some point the banshee, in a more realistic fashion. I’ve
painting them as figures in more contemporary attire, such as hoodies and tracksuits
instead of the traditional tuxedo and bowler hat. I’m not trying to redesign
these spirits but rather reinterpret them without the element of parody and
cliché.
The fact
that nobody really believes in them anymore was also something that interested me.
They are effectively unemployed and due to this they appear to have very little
going on in their lives, the leprechaun is no longer needed to mend shoes and
the banshee is not needed as a warning of death. They have all been replaced
with rationality which I think is a pity.
Leaves, Oil on Canvas, 55cm x 35cm, Pat Byrne, 2015
The New Baal Fires, Oil on Canvas, 57cm x 40cm, Pat Byrne, 2015
(3)What
memorable responses have you had to your work?
I received
really positive feedback in June this year towards the current paintings. It
was the first time they had been installed for display and it was my MFA
Graduate exhibition at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. My work
almost sold out, I only brought home one painting out of the installed body of
work which I was really surprised at because before that show I only sold 2
pieces. Also during this show 8 of us had our work reviewed by artist and art
critic James Merrigan. That was great and one of the most memorable responses
that I have had towards my work because in the paint department we all would
have been following James’ website Billion Journal.
The Honeycomb
Project was another
project I was involved with in 2011. It was a collaborative light installation
that 5 of us worked on for The Electric Picnic music festival and we got a lot
of positive feedback. That was the first time that someone might have been
talking about a piece of work and I was able to say I was one of the artists
who worked on it.
The Honeycomb Project, MDF, Plastic Bottles and LED Lights, Laura Byrne, Pat Byrne, Karen Hendy, Helena Malone and Vera McEvoy, 2011
(4)What is
your dream project?
I don’t
think that I have ever really thought about what would be my dream project. I
think at the moment my dream project would be to exhibit alongside some of my
friends that I have met along the way. During my undergraduate studies at
Galway – Mayo Institute of Technology and postgraduate studies at the National
College of Art and Design I’ve been really lucky to meet some really great
people and to become friends with them. As for my own work, I would like to
work towards a show outside Ireland at some point and continue working in a
similar way to what I’m doing now and I think another Icelandic residency would
be good too, I have applied for one recently and I’m waiting to hear back so
hopefully it’ll be good news.
The Result of Solitude, Oil on Canvas, 36cm x 25cm, Pat Byrne, 2015
(5)What
artists, of any medium, do you admire? (Famous or not!)
Kevin
Cosgrove, Kehinde Wiley and Jeremy Geddes are three figurative painters that I
really admire. Even though my work is nothing like Fiona Rae’s I have always
really liked her paintings too and how she speaks about them. Niamh O Malley
and Ailbhe Bí Bhriain are 2 more Irish artists whose work I like. Painting
features in Niamh’s work alongside video and installation and although Ailbhe
works with video I think there’s a very strong painterly quality about her
work.
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