Gerard Byrne

Gerard Byrne (born 29 March 1958, in Dublin) is an Irish figurative painter. His artwork encompasses various themes from landscapes and architecture painted both in his native Ireland and on foreign travels, through still life to the floral and figurative works.

Biography Early years Gerard Byrne was born in Finglas, Dublin, Ireland, to parents Brendan and Kathleen. His father worked for many years as a self-employed customs agent, while his mother "Kay" reared the family of six: Brendan, Miriam, Gerard, Pauline, Janette and Irene. He attended the Sacred Heart school in Glasnevin, then the City Quay School and the St Kevin's Christian Brothers in Ballygall. and preparing for the group exhibition in Greenlane Gallery, Dingle to commemorate 50th anniversary of the last man leaving Great Blasket Island. As a result of his break up Gerard lost his only recently renovated home and studio in Sandycove. Shortly after he was offered by a complete stranger a basement to stay and work in a house in Killiney. To his great surprise, it happened to be a house with a sea view capturing his much loved Sorrento. He stayed there for three years. Over a short period of time, Gerard became close friends with the owner of the house, John. In 2005, Gerard made a painting trip to India and shortly after again to America. When he came home he focused on painting his beloved local Irish scenes: Dalkey, Killiney, Sorrento, Sandycove. His inspiration was fed by the beauty of the coastline, sea, light, local architecture and life. He became known as a local painter. In October 2007, Gerard flew to the USA once again, rented a camper van and drove upstate New York. He spent 6 weeks on the road capturing the colours of the fall. He came back with a number of big-format pictures depicting the autumnal landscapes. In 2005, he bought a house in Dalkey, with the idea of having a home to celebrate the arts, where music nights, poetry readings, classical music events, jazz concerts would complement his life as a painter. In time his home grew to become a gallery and was named The Art House. It became a recognised spot on the map of Dalkey, a place where the creative vibe dominated the structure of the house, run not for profit but for love of art, something he had learnt in Berlin a decade before. The Art House was situated in the heart of Dalkey village, directly opposite a well-known pub called Finnegan's which is featured in a number of Gerrard's paintings. It is here where in 2008, he met his future wife Agata, a Polish garden designer who was working as a waitress at the time. hosting the reception of his wedding the following month. The gallery presented the artworks created over the previous years. His work focused on painting London landmarks en plein air and the new studio works. In October 2015 Gerard and Agata's move to Brighton provided the artist with an opportunity to capture the diminishing seatown architecture of the Victorian era, West Pier, Brighton Palace Pier and the beauty of the coastal line. His studio work advanced towards floral and industrial abstracts. With little to distract him, this was a prolific period of artistic activity for Gerard, as he was able to focus entirely on his painting. In May 2016, he contributed to the Artists Open Houses Festival, where more than 1,000 artists exhibited their work in venues across Brighton and Hove and in the surrounding areas. In July 2016, Gerard came second place in the 'professional artists' category at Pintar Rapido London, the UK's biggest plein air painting festival and competition. Later that year, in December, he participated in the Focus LDN 2016 Winter Exhibition at The Menier Gallery in Southwark, London. The exhibition featured 28 contemporary artists, working in a range of media, including painting, embroidery and photography. In June 2017, Gerard was selected out of over a thousand artists to participate in the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year competition, held at Knaresborough Castle in Yorkshire. In July of the same year, he has been invited to participate as a guest artist in 2017's Pintar Rapido in Chelsea, London.

Return to Dublin and Gerard's Botanical Escape While still living in London, in November 2017 Gerard established his new art gallery in Ireland, Gerard Byrne Studio Ranelagh, Dublin. In April 2018, Gerard launched his solo exhibition ‘Time is the Enemy’ at Gerard Byrne Studio in Ranelagh. ‘Time is the Enemy’ combined a mix of floral, architectural, landscape and figurative works, proving the unsurpassed versatility of Gerard's painting. The collection of works offered a subtle exploration of the theme of the passing of time. In June of that same year, Gerard and his wife Agata relocated from London back to Dublin. Same week Byrne celebrated 30 years of painting outdoors at the National Botanic Gardens (Ireland) in Dublin, in an exhibition entitled ‘Inside Outside & Beyond’. The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the Office of Public Works, and hosted at the National Botanic Gardens’ gallery space.

Following the success of 2018's ‘Inside Outside & Beyond’ exhibition, Ireland's Ambassador to Singapore, Patrick Bourne along with Dr Nigel Taylor, the Group Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens invited Gerard Byrne to take up Artist-in-Residence in the Gardens from August till September 2019. His trip was supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Ireland). Gerard's residency resulted in a new collection of plein-air paintings that paid homage to the lush foliage of Southeast Asia. This collection formed the basis of an exhibition co-hosted by the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Irish Embassy in Singapore. Alongside Gerard's paintings from Singapore, the exhibition ‘Botanical Fusion’ featured his botanical works from the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland and London's Kew Gardens. The exhibition ran for a period of ten weeks at the People's Gallery in the Singapore Botanic Gardens with works on display in the open-air exhibition areas near the Tanglin, Nassim and Bukit Timah gates of the Gardens. Seen by over 50,000 visitors to the Gardens the exhibition was a part of the commemorative celebration of the Singapore Botanic Gardens' 160 years in existence. Moreover, it formed part of the Government's 2025 Asia Pacific Strategy to increase Ireland's visibility in the Asia Pacific region. In early 2020, the highly anticipated 'Botanical Fusion' collection created during Byrne's Artist-in-Residence at the Singapore Botanic Gardens made its way to Dublin. The collection of artworks was launched by Mr Ron Bolger, Honorary Consul-General of Singapore in Ireland on 27 February at the Gerard Byrne Studio as 'Botanical Fusion. Singapore to Dublin' exhibition. The collection of 42 artworks was widely praised. According to Patrick Bourne, Irish Ambassador to Singapore; "The new works that Gerard produced during his time as Artist-in-Residence at the Singapore Gardens are extraordinary and represent a unique rendering of the colour and atmosphere of this tropical place through the prism of a great Irish eye and talent." Due to the introduction of the Government restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Botanical Fusion. Singapore to Dublin’ exhibition unexpectedly ended just days after the opening night. In response, Gerard Byrne Studio created accessible worldwide an innovative and interactive 360-degree virtual gallery tour of the exhibition. Launched on World Environment Day, 5 June 2020, as the first virtual experience offered by a privately owned art gallery in Ireland.

Artwork

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions

2024 35 YEARS OF ART: Celebrating Gerard Byrne Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2024 Spirit of Place Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2023 Charcoalogy Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2022 Connections Wilton Gallery, Glasthule, Ireland 2022 Turning Corners Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2021 To the Sea Greenlane Gallery, Dingle, Ireland 2020 Pause for Harmony. Art in Lockdown 360 virtual exhibition, Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2020 Pause for Harmony. Art in Lockdown Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2020 Botanical Fusion. Singapore to Dublin 360 virtual exhibition, Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2020 Botanical Fusion. Singapore to Dublin Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2019 30 Years in the Making, Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2019 Botanical Fusion People's Gallery, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore 2018 Inside Outside & Beyond Gallery Space, National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, Ireland 2018 Time is The Enemy Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2017 Gallery Opening, Gerard Byrne Studio, Dublin, Ireland 2016 Artists Open Houses Festival The Gerard Byrne Studio, Brighton, United Kingdom 2014 Gerard Byrne Studio, Gerard Byrne Studio, Clerkenwell, London, United Kingdom 2013 ART House, Dalkey, Ireland 2012 ART House, Dalkey, Ireland 2009 Gorry Gallery, Dublin 2008 Greenlane Gallery, Dingle, Ireland 2007 Gallery 4, Dublin 2006 Irish Fine Art, Dublin 2005 Irish Fine Art, Dublin 2004 Dalkey Arts Gallery, Dublin 2003 Gorry Gallery, Dublin 2001 Dalkey Arts Gallery, Dublin 2000 Gorry Gallery, Dublin 1998 Gorry Gallery, Dublin 1997 Bridge Gallery, Dublin 1996 Harrison Gallery, Dublin 1995 Jo Rain Gallery, Dublin 1995 Harrison Gallery, Dublin 1994 Jo Rain Gallery, Dublin 1994 Guinness Hop Store, Dublin 1993 Fortune Society, New York City 1992 Brown's Gallery, Dublin 1991 George Gallery, Dublin 1990 People's Gallery, Berlin 1989 George Gallery, Dublin

Recent group exhibitions

2024 Wild Atlantic Winter, Greenlane Gallery, Dingle, Ireland 2022 Páipéar, Hang Tough Contemporary, Central Plaza Dublin, Ireland 2018 The New English Art Club, Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, United Kingdom 2017 SKY ARTS, Landscape Artist of the Year, Knaresborough Castle, Yorkshire, United Kingdom 2017 An Exhibition of 17th – 21st Century Irish Paintings, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, Ireland 2017 Pintar Rapido, Chelsea Town Hall, Chelsea, London, United Kingdom 2016 Pintar Rapido, Posthoornkerk, Haarlemmerstraat, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 2016 Naked Eye Gallery, Hove, United Kingdom 2016 Revolution Show, The Observer Building, Hastings, United Kingdom 2016 Future Nepal Charity Auction, UCS Hampstead, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom 2016 Alzheimer's in the Frame, The Memorable Icons, The Alzheimer's Show, Olympia, Kensington, London, United Kingdom 2016 Alzheimer's in the Frame, The Memorable Icons, Gallery Elena Shchukina, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom 2016 Pintar Rapido, Chelsea Town Hall, Chelsea, London, United Kingdom 2016 Parallax Art Fair, Chelsea Town Hall, Chelsea, London, United Kingdom 2016 Focus LDN Winter Exhibition, Menier Gallery, Southwark, London, United Kingdom 2016 Focus LDN The Art of Regeneration, Menier Gallery, Southwark, London, United Kingdom 2015 Clerkenwell Design Week, Platform, Clerkenwell, London, United Kingdom

Selected collections

Irish Embassy, Beijing Irish Embassy, Singapore Singapore Botanic Gardens Department of the Marine Department of Justice Office of Public Works (OPW) Ireland Electricity Supply Board Guinness plc O2 Ireland Deutsche Bank West LB Woodchester Bank Durkan Homes Corrigan & Corrigan (Solicitors) The Citadelle Art Museum, Texas, USA Louis Walsh Paula Rowan Maeve Binchy and Gordon Snell Diarmuid Gavin and Justine Keane Sligo Park Hotel Marlfield House Ballymascanlon House Hotel Finnegans Pub, Dalkey Gresham Hotel, Dublin Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin Dylan Hotel, Dublin