gorry gallery dublin

gerard byrne

6. ‘pink lilies’

© Gorry Gallery ltd.

Front Cover: 37. ‘ZeBra’

BaCk Cover: 25. ‘patHWay, BotaniC Gardens’

Gorry Gallery

requests the pleasure of your company at the private view of

An Exhibition of Recent Paintings

byGerard Byrne

on Wednesday, 23rd September, 2009

Wine 6 o’clock

23rd September – 7th October 2009

40. ‘notre dame, paris’

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tHe artist paintinG ‘jardÍne de luxemBourG’ (no. 45)

Gerard Byrne has been graced naturally with an artist’s plein air sensibility. He has no barriers against the world outside, but responds with the openness of a child to light and shade, to the colour and architecture which he renders with paint onto canvas. And the truth in his work brings about healing. He tells the story of a friend gearing up to do a job interview, but who was being calmed against his will in the corporation’s waiting‑room, until he realized that a large painting on the wall opposite was by Gerry.

Gerry was set apart early because he suffers from dyslexia. He was battered and bullied because he did not read the world as we do. However, as a youngster at a special needs school in Dublin’s City Quay, Gerry was told to place his easel at the back of the class and to paint his pictures, while the rest of his classmates studied the curriculum. His parents had told him that all artists starve, so Gerry went on to ply his trade as an electrician all over the world ‑ in the United States, Libya, and in Australia ‑ until he was literally shocked back into accepting his destiny. Gerry bought a small house in Dublin’s Liberties, where he could walk to the markets for food and second‑hand clothing. A chance encounter in a pub supplied him with an easel and paints. And his life as a struggling artist was supported by those market women, who slipped him free boxes of vegetables, and clothed him in designer outfits they kept back especially for him, encouraging his painting with cries of “God bless your hands!”

Gerard Byrne’s secret is that he is self‑taught. This particular freedom has enabled him to create art that is exuberant and unconstrained, paintings that partake of both an unconscious vision, and a conscious view which is different to the rest of us, but which has been skillfully honed over thirty years of daily work. He speaks with humour of the anxiety associated with collecting his easel and paint boxes off airport carousels, of the bizarre adventures he has while humping huge canvases through city streets, of battling with the wind and the rain which contribute spontaneous painting strokes and unintended effects to his art. But when Gerry is painting out of doors, he can be so totally absorbed that he is startled into wakefulness by the applause of spectators, who are acknowledging his mastery as he puts the finishing touch to a picture.

Gerard Byrne is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists, with his work on public display in Irish Government and corporate collections. He has had eighteen major solo exhibitions in galleries in Dublin, Berlin and New York, and his paintings hang in private and corporate collections the world over. Gerry’s philosophy is that payment is never for the present painting hanging on the gallery wall: it is an investment in the future, a mark of our participation in the next master work that Gerry has now in hand...

Michael T. Murphy (R.T.E. Broadcaster and Author) Recently published ‘AT FIvE IN THE AFTERNOON’ – My Battle with Male Cancer.

With a foreword by Mary Robinson. Brandon/Mount Eagle Publications.

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5. ‘lilies and apples’

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9. ‘CoCktail Waitress’

solo exHiBitions

George Gallery, Dublin, 1989

People’s Gallery, Berlin, 1990

George Gallery, Dublin, 1991

Browns Gallery, Dublin, 1992

Fortune Society, New York City, 1993

Guinness Hop Store, Dublin, 1994

Jo Rain Gallery, Dublin, 1995

Harrison Gallery, Dublin, 1996

Bridge Gallery, Dublin, 1997

Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 1998

Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2000

Dalkey Arts Gallery, Dublin, 2001

Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2003

Dalkey Arts Gallery, Dublin, 2004

Irish Fine Art, Dublin, 2005

Gallery D4, Dublin, 2006

Gallery D4, Dublin 2007

Greenlane Gallery, Dingle, 2008

seleCted ColleCtions

Office of Public Works

Guinness plc

Electricity Supply Board

Department of the Marine

Department of Justice

Corrigan and Corrigan Solicitors

Sligo Park Hotel

Abraham Foundation, Texas, USA

West LB Deutche Bank

O2 Ireland

Durkan Homes

Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin

Gresham Hotel, Dublin

Parknasilla Hotel, Kerry

Ballymascanlan Hotel, Dundalk

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26. ‘Canal loCk, perCy plaCe’

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44. ‘Bakery, neW york’

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45. ‘jardÍne de luxemBourG’

20. ‘FrenCH plouGH’

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3. ‘HuBand BridGe’

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4. ‘sHelBourne Hotel’

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All measurements are in inches, height before width.All paintings are signed and the medium is oil on canvas except numbers 13, 14, 15, 16. They are charcoal heightened with oil wash on canvas.

Gallery i1. ‘Canal loCk, HerBert plaCe’ 47 x 47

2. ‘mount usHer’ 59 x 391/2

3. ‘HuBand BridGe’ 47 x 351/2 Illustrated page 10

4. ‘sHelBourne Hotel’ 47 x 231/2 Illustrated page 11

5. ‘lilies and apples’ 59 x 59 Illustrated page 5

6. ‘pink lilies’ 87 x 41 Illustrated inside front cover

7. ‘Fantasy’ 47 x 47 Illustrated inside back cover

8. ‘oFFiCe party’ 411/2 x 87

Gallery ii9. ‘CoCktail Waitress’ 59 x 151/2 Illustrated page 6

10. ‘joie de vivre’ 59 x 741/2

11. ‘jaZZ session’ 59 x 391/2 Illustrated page 13

12. ‘BotaniC Gardens’ 47 x 311/2

13. ‘Cookes restaurant’ 39 x 27

14. ‘notre dame, on tHe siene, paris’ 35 x 451/2 Illustrated page 14

15. ‘CaFÉ, notre dame, paris’ 51 x 32

16. ‘pont des arts, paris’ 47 x 351/2 Illustrated page 14

17. ‘FinneGan’s puB, dalkey’ 47 x 113/4

18. ‘poppies’ 47 x 351/2 Illustrated above

19. ‘parisian CaFÉ’ 47 x 151/2

doWnstairs Gallery20. ‘FrenCH plouGH’ 28 x 311/2 Illustrated page 9

21. ‘viCo steps’ 40 x 16

22. ‘sorrento terraCe’ 151/2 x 391/2 Illustrated page 15

23. ‘pepperCanister’ 231/2 x 231/2

24. ‘st. anne’s park, rose Garden’ 351/2 x 351/2

25. ‘patHWay, BotaniC Gardens’ 391/2 x 391/2 Illustrated back cover

18. ‘poppies’

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11. ‘jaZZ session’

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26. ‘Canal loCk, perCy plaCe’ 391/4 x 391/4 Illustrated page 7

27. ‘joyCe toWer, sandyCove’ 391/4 x 391/4

28. ‘mount usHer Gardens, under old palm trees’

39 x 28 Illustrated page 16

29. ‘red roses’ 471/4 x 193/4

30. ‘FloWers in a vase’ 30 x 24

31. ‘BotaniC Gardens, sunday’ 351/4 x 233/4

32. ‘reFleCtions, mount usHer’ 311/2 x 231/2 Illustrated page 18

33. ‘sandyCove’ 151/2 x 391/4

34. ‘BulloCk HarBour’ 271/2 x 271/2

35. ‘poppies in a vase’ 30 x 24

36. ‘House, viCo road’ 191/2 x 271/2

37. ‘ZeBra’ 47 x 351/2 Illustrated front cover

38. ‘BarkinG mad’ 47 x 47

Illustrated page 15

39. ‘BulloCk HarBour’ 12 x 12

40. ‘notre dame, paris’ 12 x 12 Illustrated title page

41. ‘tHistles in a terraCotta vase’

391/4 x 391/4 Illustrated page 17

42. ‘joyCe toWer, sandyCove’ 12 x 16

43. ‘violas’ 36 x 20

44. ‘Bakery, neW york’ 36 x 24 Illustrated page 8

45. ‘jardÍne de luxemBourG’ 283/4 x 36 Illustrated page 9

14. ‘notre dame, on tHe seine, paris’

16. ‘pont des arts, paris’

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22. ‘sorrento terraCe’

38. ‘BarkinG mad’

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28. ‘mount usHer Gardens, under old palm trees’

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41. ‘tHistles in a terraCotta vase’

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32. ‘reFleCtions, mount usHer’

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7. ‘Fantasy’

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GORRY GALLERY LTD., 20 MOLESWORTH STREET, DUBLIN 2. TELEPHONE and FAX 6795319

Web www.gorrygallery.ie Email gerard@gerardbyrneartist.com

The Gallery is open Monday – Friday 11.30 a.m. – 5.30 p.m.Saturday (during Exhibition only) 11.30 a.m. – 2.30 p.m.

Origination and Printing by Brunswick Press Ltd.