C101 Article
Limerick: Gerard Byrne at Limerick
City Gallery of Art
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Gerard Byrne: from New
York series, 1999-2001, photograph;
courtesy Green on Red Gallery/Limerick City Gallery
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Gerard Byrne has filled the Gallery's empty
spaces with images of empty spaces.
A series of ten photographs in the North
Gallery depict 'empty' spaces, that is, spaces without physical
human presence. However, presence is only absent at the time the
shot was taken, at the in-between time. An office under renovation
or an empty room at night or a dark lane - all resonate with the
knowledge of people having been there and those to come. Empty but
referencing. They are mostly urban interiors ,except for a dark
alley corner, which could also be argued as a city interior of sorts.
The photographs have been taken through windows, the interior taken
from the exterior, and the subtle reflections of light are captured
at the surface of the image, reminding us of the photographer, who
is the real presence in these works. For it is his fascination with
these spaces that is intriguing rather than the visuals themselves.
The dissolve slide projections in Room
3 continue the series in sepia tones, called Untitled (Scenes
from Pinter, Beckett, Ionesco etc.). This reference to playwrights
invokes a sense of the spaces as stage sets, of the minimalist variety.
These tableaux only really become alive through the knowledge of
their contexts. It is the anticipation inherent in the space that
is important.
This notion becomes more prevalent after
I walk around the beautiful cube extension that is the South Gallery.
At first, I am underwhelmed by the 25 or so photographs, mostly
of landscapes, street scenes and interior views of a natural history
museum. They are like random selections from unknown archive documents.
My only key is a photograph of a theatre interior with rows of seats
and a stage with table and chairs. This grounds me again, and I
refer to the photocopied text I picked up on the way in to find
out more. The title is Twelve Angry Men and is accompanied
by an excerpt of a review from 2001; this text helps me imagine
the animation of the set. The other titles are also wordy, the landscape
ones full of references to sightings of the Loch Ness monster. Now
I walk around again, reading the footnotes to each photograph and
piecing together the relationships. One of these notes is about
'Legendary Psychasthenia' - "a loss of distinct boundaries between
a subject and surrounding space." This is an apt description for
what I've discovered in between the photograph and the text, or
the symbiosis of both. Unfortunately, the images are lifeless until
you know their contexts, but I guess that's the point!
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Gerard Byrne: The
end of architecture is nigh, 1995, photograph ;
courtesy Green on Red Gallery/Limerick City Gallery
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In the atrium space, a television plays on a makeshift stage with
some chairs. The placing of the installation in the atrium is unsuitable
due the five doorways leading off it and the unfortunate sound leak
from a separate exhibition upstairs. The video is of two men having
a conversation about a car, one making a sales pitch to the sceptical
but hooked other. On the surrounding walls are photographs of the
text of an article/advertisement, 'Why it's time for Imperial',
from a 1981 National Geographic journal. The text is of a
supposed conversation between two American icons, Lee Iacocca (businessman)
and Frank Sinatra, the first selling the luxury Imperial car to
the second. A case of the text informing the work - yes. As you
read the text, you realise the video is using the printed conversation
as a script for the two actors on screen. The same script is spoken
several times, but the sequence of the scenes they walk through
(city backstreets, traintracks, a café interior) shift subtly,
letting the viewer become involved in a spot-the-difference. The
actors are caught in the absurd script, destined to repeat the stilted
lines over and over. This is a bizarre examination of propaganda
recorded as history; the obviously false conversation cannot be
changed as it has become a document, a piece of evidence. It also
pokes fun at the American Dream and the machismo of its heroes.
However, although the editing is clever and the situation humorous,
it's in danger of emphasising style over substance.
My favourite piece in the exhibition, the
oldest work here (1995), seems out of place among the other photos.
The reason is its immediate visual impact. A large black-and-white
photo of a man (the artist) walking down a New York street of skyscrapers
with the portentous sign "The end of architecture is nigh" strapped
to his body like an advertisement, this work is refreshing in its
simplicity. The artist here is more direct in his motivation, whereas
in the other works he is detached. Overall, this exhibition is quiet
and understated; it's not likely to arouse any emotions but is a
vehicle through which viewers may consider the way they see.
Treasa O'Brien is an artist and
freelance writer. She also works as the administrator of Butler
Gallery, Kilkenny.
Gerard Byrne, Recent Works, Limerick
City Gallery of Art, August 2002
