Lorcan O´Byrne
Ireland
The Irish painter Lorcan O’Byrne gained recognition for his portraits and group portraits of people from his immediate social environment. With extraordinary precision, clarity, and astonishing detachment, he characterizes those close to him using a sparing color palette and brush gestures that vary from painting to painting. Through meticulous painterly exploration and a focus on the cool expressive value of color—something he continually refined in his depictions of heads and bodies—he developed a liberated relationship with color and the diverse possibilities of brushwork. This intimate connection to his artistic tools has, in recent years, led him to entirely different abstract forms of expression. These have culminated in a series of works that, in an entirely open manner, convey our relationship to late summer, with its fading splendor of luminous colors.
Works
Let´s dance, 2020, oil on canvas, 120 x 130 cm
Untitled (on the road), 2020, oil on canvas, 100 x 110 cm
Whiteout, 2021, oil on canvas, 120 x 130 cm
Big kricklekrackle, 2019, oil on canvas, 182,5 x 193 cm
Untitled, 2017, oil on canvas, 120 x 160 cm
Untitled, 2018, oil on canvas, 140 x 100 cm
Book and Glasses, 2017, oil on canvas, 45 x 50 cm
Kettle, 2007, oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm
Sink, 2014, oil on canvas, 88 x 115 cm
Lamp, 2007, oil on canvas, 120 x 150 cm
Ruby, 2005, oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm
The Turbulence Devils, 2004, oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm
Biography
Born in 1961 in Dublin (IRL), lives and works in Berlin since 1985
1979-1981: National College of Art and Design, Dublin (IRL)
1986-1989: HdK Berlin, Master’s degree under Prof. Martin Engelmann
Awards / Scholarships
2015 Kunststiftung K52 Stipend, Berlin (D)
2013 The Adam’s Award, The RHA, Dublin (IRL)
2000 Symposium Von Chaos und Ordnung in der Seele, University of Mainz (D)
1998 Residency (12 months), Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems (D)
Solo-Exhibitions
2021 Let´s dance, Hengesbach Gallery, Wuppertal (D)
2018 Indian Summer, Hengesbach Gallery, Wuppertal (D)
2015 Paintings, Kunststiftung K52, Berlin (D)
2014 Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein zu Berlin, Berlin (D)
2012 Stuhl und Jacke, second home projects, Berlin (D); GEHAG Forum, Berlin (D) (with Michael Felix Langer und Julia Neuenhausen); Die Dritte Mitte, Galerie Neues Problem, Berlin (D) (with Sonja Alhäuser und Tushar Joag)
2008 Still Lifes, Buxtehude Museum, Hamburg (D)
2007 What A Day, Embassy of Ireland, Berlin (D); New Paintings, Gallery Frederik Foert, Berlin (D)
2006 Gallery Capitolium, Brescia (I); Gallery Gianluca Ranzi – M3, Antwerpen (B)
2005 New Paintings, Gallery Kurt, Berlin (D)
2002 Landscapes, Embassy of Ireland, Berlin (D)
2001 On the road, museumsakademie/Galerie Helen Adkins, Berlin (D)
2000 Holidays, museumsakademie, Berlin (D)
1999 Still Lifes, Gehag Forum, Berlin (D)
1998 Flowers, friends, and family, museumsakademie, Berlin (D) (Cat.)
1997 Paintings, Die Box, Berlin (D) (with Irene Bashlakow); People I know, museumsakademie, Berlin (D) (Cat.)
1992 Riverrun Gallery, Dublin (IRL)
1990 Riverrun Gallery, Dublin (IRL)
1988 Schauplatz Galerie, Berlin (D)
1987 Work from Berlin, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (IRL)
Gruppenausstellungen
2014 The 184th Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition, Dublin (IRL)
2013 Berliner Salon, Part II. 21 Maler aus Berlin, Kunsthaus Meiningen, Meiningen (D); The End… my only friend, Galerie Neues Problem, Berlin (D); The 183rd Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition, Dublin (IRL)
2011 The 181st Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition, Dublin (IRL)
2009 The 179th Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition, Dublin (IRL)
2007 Salty Tears, Galerie Frederik Foert, Berlin (D)
2006 The Fine Art of Separating People From Their Money, Galerie Frederik Foert, Berlin (D)
2005 Rock’n roll, Galerie Kurt, Berlin (D)
2004 Freespace 2004, Z33, Provinciaal Centrum voor Beeldende Kunsten, Hasselt (BE)
2003 Freespace 2003, Z33, Provinciaal Centrum voor Beeldende Kunsten, Hasselt (BE)
2001 Squatters, Museu Serralves, Porto (P), (selected by Vicente Todoli, Cat.)
2001 O’Byrne / Lindner / Spohr, museumsakademie/ Galerie Helen Adkins, Berlin (D)
2000 Galerie Schneiderei, Cologne (D); Von Chaos und Ordnung in der Seele, Psychiatrische Klinik, University of Mainz / Kunstbunker, Nürnberg (D)
1998 Künstlerhaus Schloß Balmoral, Bad Ems (D), (Cat.)
1998 Aldrin Unloads Experiments, Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft, Galerie Bahnhof Westend, Berlin (D)
1996 Apollo, museumsakademie, Berlin (D)
1994-96 Open studios General-Pape-Strasse, Berlin (D)
1991-93 Open studios Waldenser Strasse, Berlin (D)
1990 Carroll Gallery, Longford (IRL)
1988 Travelling exhibition NCAD, Dublin / Kilkenny / Cork / Belfast (IRL)
1986 Independent Artists, Dublin (IRL)
Sammlungen (Museen)
Berlinische Galerie (D)
Museum für Moderne Kunst, Berlin (D)