Contact - , 612-702-5849,
883 Linwood Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
Artist Statement
My work in video, film, and installations has expanded to include digital media drawings on canvas, paper, fabric, and projected.
These are semi-abstract, dense, richly colored, imaginary worlds. They have a painterly appearance and a surface tension when seen in person. A narrative lingers in the background and invites multiple interpretations.
My process of making is improvisational. I accept all the wonderful accidents that occur along the way to the final canvas.
I am interested in gestures, marks, color, shapes, personal iconography, and all the other expressive potential inherent in painting and drawing. Some of my recurring personal icons include the sun, moon, fish, tombs, mummies, houses, worms, birds, and creatures, to name a few.
James Byrne
2020 Exhibitions
Zacheta-National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Early American Video Art, February - April, 2020
Vine Arts Center, Minneapolis, Art Inspired by Music, group show, February 2020
Miami Dade College Museum of Art and Design, Miami
Cloister Gallery, St. Paul, James Byrne: New Works
Jimmy Wilson Gallery, Minneapolis, Guest Artist
2019 Exhibitions
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, The Body Electric, group show, through February 2020
Rogue Buddha Gallery, Minneapolis, Mourning Glory, group show, November 2019
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, The Body Electric, group show
2019 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Made in Minnesota Short Films
Byrne's earlier work in film and video earned grants and fellowships from Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Minnesota State Arts Board.
His video art can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Kunstmuseum, Bonn; Banff Center for the Arts, Banff; The Kitchen, New York; and others.
James earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Video Art from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and completed additional graduate study at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York. He has a Bachelor of Elected Studies from the University of Minnesota. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Carol Engebretson Byrne.