Events & Programs

We are familiar with the expression, "you are what you eat" but it is being modified. People with experience in the world of diet often say "you are how you eat." Do you eat slowly, chew well, relax or eat on the run, eat with family or friends, reflect upon the flavour, textures, sources of the food. I think the same thing can be said for reading.

That's why I've chosen to name this exhibition, You are "how" you read. It's all about books, or is it? There are so many new ways to read but the attitude we bring to the process very much effects the benefits reading brings to us. Developing true reading skills, develops empathy, imagination, concentration and visualisation abilities. So many things which are becoming less and less necessary as we are spoon fed the correct reactions by the perfectly timed music, dramatic movement or the perfectly paced special effects, in a game or movie.

Some authors see the ability to read a novel to be under threat. There are skills required, which are becoming rare. Philip Roth believes that the ability to concentrate for condensed periods of time, upon a single book is disappearing. Competition from other media is wiping out the abilities which people currently possess. Yet the human feels the need to create and we often create with words. Will people of the future be able to receive the product of this creation?

I attempt to communicate this idea and others in this exhibit with another threatened media. The media of the single image, made by a person and requiring the attention span and intelligence of another, to receive and comprehend it.

About Tom J. Byrne

I have been a visual artist all my life. I intended to go into film prop building but on graduation I became an illustrator and like many artists before me, perfected my technical abilities here. Eventually I had to make a move from that, to painting as an artist. So a number of years were spent unlearning. Then relearning.

I exhibited in Ireland extensively and finally left for Paris in 2004, to continue my studies with various master painters. I studied methods of the Renaissance. How to fabricate paint from diverse media. How to compose and communicate with colour, etc. Ultimately I learnt what importance all these things had.

None!

Yet, the process of creation and exploration and the ability to call upon different tools & skills to express, gives me great satisfaction! To be flexible and agile in my art. The sacrifices to reach this point were not really sacrifices. It's just that there were no sign posts along the way and so, I often found myself wandering along paths which I had to retrace from time to time.

Which brings me to here.