28 Feb 18 by david byrne
david byrne artworks

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Lorem Ibsem

Digital rendering of a sculpture design template.

Japanese Spider
Japanese Spider
Japanese Spider

Mixed media squashed and pasted.

Fish
Fish
Fish

Unconsciousness drawing including allusions to fish.

OVER UNDER
OVER UNDER
OVER UNDER

Digital painting while thinking about Italy.

Robot
Robot
Robot

Digital robot for fun.

Nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine

Fun Photoshopping.

Bitten
Bitten
Bitten

Illustration for a poem I'm working on.

Boat on a lake
Boat on a lake
Boat on a lake

Experimenting with simplicity.

Martin
Martin
Martin

Portrait of a friend now deceased.

Fond memories of drinking.
Fond memories of drinking.
Fond memories of drinking.

What it feels like to be inebriated .

Yello Ocre Pond
Yello Ocre Pond
Yello Ocre Pond

A poem with digital illustration about childhood.

Bridge
Bridge
Bridge

Drawing in Japan.

Another bridge
Another bridge
Another bridge

Drawing

Utility Bill
Utility Bill
Utility Bill

Inspired by a Japanese utility bill.

dragon
dragon
dragon

Drawing in ink.

Dream
Dream
Dream

The seed of an idea thats been in my head for over thirty years now, still unresolved like so much in life.

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12 Mar 18 11:55

Architecture in a sort of "inside-out" vein seems to be a particular interest of yours David. This looks like a preliminary sketch for a sculptural work. But what do you mean by unresolved? Is it taking so long because of the material cost, logistics, site, storage etc?
If it makes you feel any better (haha), I too have some very VERY long-term pr^Cects I hope one day to complete, or even do.
To cheer you up, here's something that I think you'll enjoy [LINK].

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13 Mar 18 05:49

Astute observation Paul. Your right it was a sketch for a sculptural work that I never made because of production obstacles etc. The etc. part is that I could never feel that I could quite envision it properly, it came from a dream literally it was completed in my dream. Down through the years I have made several attempts to “complete” the drawing but it still eludes me, that concrete collapse into the actual. It always seems to need something more that is still blurry in my imagination or memory when I think of my intangible dream from all those years ago.

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15 Mar 18 15:38

So David, is this [LINK] one of those attempts to realize your dream environment? I´m not a big fan of computer-generated art in general, but in this case it is really useful to help visualize your imaginings, no? Do you consider this CAD rendition successful? Does it stop there; or will you still need to push it further to actually build the installation?
Have you attempted in the past to put together a project proposal for the financing and construction of this kind of work? It certainly appears that you have all the skills to prepare a convincing presentation and petition for funding.

Actually I see you leverage the computer a lot as a tool for many images. I remember you being very much a figurative painter and muralist. Can you talk a little on why you´ve taken up a digital medium, and what it´s core usefulness for you is?

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19 Mar 18 05:26

Ok for your first question, the link is an attempt to realize my dream location or place. My dream place pun intended..lol!
Again you are hitting the right nails when you say I regard CGI as simply another tool to visualize concepts and it’s a very useful tool at that. I think traditional media artists are very slow or reluctant to embrace this new technology with openness. Its probably a mixture of sentimentality and fear of abandoning the old reliable of paint , stone, clay, print etc the plastic materials.
We live in a new world where the digital and concrete mix and the interaction between both is what’s interesting. Already digital painting which tries to emulate the effects of concrete materials has become a totally valid and interesting medium unto itself and is set to change radically especially with the onset of Virtual and augmented reality platforms.
I have increasingly tended to use digital mediums because I find the technology both interesting and convenient. Why bother dirtying your hands with pencil when you can use a digital one instead.
Increasingly artists are selling their work in the form of high quality prints of drawings and paintings rendered with traditional concrete materials. For me eliminating the concrete materials and working directly in digital paint simply seems to be more convenient and spontaneous.
Don’t get me wrong I think the smell and texture of traditional materials is beautiful and long may its use last but I just think its high time that CGI shuld be given the status and respect it too deserves as a valid for of visual expression in a very “Fine Art” kind of way.
And finally I have always been interested in the idea of a fine art object existing as a designed proposal minus the final stage of actually being realised . A kind of Plan for an artwork. That’s how this idea in the sketch above exists at least in my mind. I can produce sketches, detailed specs (cad drawings) and all other necessary information so anyone with the resources could produce the final installation. Part of my final degree show was made up of similar proposals.
Those same proposals still keep evolving in my mind, their lie quantum uncertainties that contain so much potential precisely because they haven’t yet collapsed into the state of actuality. :)

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27 May 18 16:54

You´re obviously much smarter than I David. Just trying to learn the meaning of the terminology used in graphics programs has me rolling my eyes and squirming in paroxysms of ¨oh no too much hard work..¨, never mind actually getting to the point of using them when I can NEVER have them do just what I want. It is much too difficult. Haha ... give me the pencil and dirty hands any day!
Still, all forms of image making are legitimate to my mind - even ones that do demand the intelligence of a rocket scientist. In the end, the job of an artist is to make an image for her/his age, and it´s probably then more advantageous if s/he uses the tools of the time.

Your ´plan for an artwork´ artwork is a cool and mysterious idea. Never committed, remaining suspended, unsullied, replete with possibility. Do you think now that it´s exactly that which is the art of the piece? Would trying to create it in real life diminish the magic for you?
Two responses come immediately to mind:
1) Art as just an idea.
2) Fear of making art.
Maybe they´re both sides to the same coin? What exactly is the challenge for we artists of today? and are we ready to take it on? Can we still make an image that has meaning, or is it only possible to provide indications?
Good topics to start a bar-room brawl in the artist´s hangout.

Somewhere
Somewhere
Somewhere

A poem I wrote and illustrated by a collage i made in photoshop.

Me
Me
Me

A photoshop self portrait

train
train
train

3ds train model

my loss
my loss
my loss

I gave them up last summer, still miss them soooooooooooooo much

grasshopper
grasshopper
grasshopper

digital painting

6years old
6years old
6years old

I lost the original real sculpture made of fiberboard adn wood adn paint and ink so I recreated it 20 years later in 3ds max on my computer.

moon shadow
moon shadow
moon shadow

Another 3ds render of a lost actual sculpture made in the 80s

Moondream
Moondream
Moondream

3ds development of old sketch idea from 1984 that i still ponder to this day. An idea that won't die and lingers like the original dream I had that inspired it over 30 years ago.

ruler
ruler
ruler

a very old idea

blackboard
blackboard
blackboard

inspired by my love of school blackboards as a kid. I would draw on them when the teacher was absent.