Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Tom J. Byrne At The Irish Embassy Paris

Tom J. Byrne, the Irish ex-pat living and working in Paris, paints the French landscape, women and a graphic surrealism in ways that perhaps only an Irishman can.  His exhibition bringing all these influences together in oil on canvas, tempera and drawings on paper opens this weekend in the refurbished building of the Irish Embassy at 12 Avenue Foch, 75116 Paris. (The entrance is on rue Rude.)

Tom's work brings him all over France where he immerses himself in the rich tradition of landscape painting. His canvases are large and rich distillations of the natural beauty of the countryside, aching with a particular longing (if such a thing is possible in landscape works) that ex-pats seem to recognize and realize more than the native-born set. See Tom's Maubec Field series here.

Yet, the artist travels to new more internal spots in newer, graphic and mysterious works such as Nature's Eye (left, above), combining a handful of influences and interests in the same clear style.  His range is astonishing, moving easily from contemporary collage styles to precise graphite nude drawings to abstract canvases that sometimes have a photorealistic bent. 

Lalande Digital Art Press is happy to count Tom Byrne as a client and friend (we produced a number of post cards for him for this exhibition), and add him to the cadre of interesting artists we work with here in Paris. Visit Tom's website and see more of his works here: Tom J. Byrne.

The exhibition at the Irish Embassy opens on May 16 and runs through mid-June.  If you can't make the Irish Embassy exhibition, Tom Byrne shows his work at Saint Germain Les-Corbeil for one week, May 23 through May 30; and on June 2 the artist exhibits his work at the Goal Ball in Paris. 

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