Allegro to Arabesque

Chick Byrne

Interview by L. Valena

Can you first just describe what you responded to?

The thing I responded to the most were the ways that the two dancers that were depicted in the video, and the differences in the way they expressed themselves. The first dancer had a lot more activity- a lot more spinning and hopping. The second dancer was much more still, more subdued in their movements. A lot of what I was thinking about while I was painting on the canvas had to do with the first dancer. His poses, his movement around in the green space. So I think initially I responding mostly to his movements, and then when I decided to take the photo it was actually kind of spontaneous. I decided to submit the entire photograph, including the grass and my feet as well. When I took the photograph, it clicked in my head. The two dancers were on the grass, expressing themselves. When I saw my feet on the grass, and the painting on the grass, it spoke more to what I was responding to entirely.

So you said you responded to the movement of the dancers, and especially of the first dancer. Can you say some more about how you translated that into this painting?

I tried to add a lot of loose, gestural movement to my hand across the canvas. I also wanted to use lighter colors. I added some red in there for its energetic ability. And then just painterly strokes across the canvas with the yellow and the white.

You just said that word energy, which is something we've talked about in a previous conversation. It strikes me that there is this whole other aspect to your work- would you like to talk about it?

Sure! Apart from being an artist, I've also been studying an energy medicine known as Pranic energy medicine. Each color has its own different frequency. And during these Pranic treatments, you invoke from a divine entity or the universe to project certain colors at the client in order to get a desired response. The way I incorporate that thought into my work is I depict figures as being inside, outside and around themselves as part of their environment. That energy is themself. Because when you get down to it, our bodies are made of cells, cells are made of atoms, and atoms are just energy. So I sort of translate those two things together, and I also think about work in a spiritual/divine sense as well. It's a gift for me to be able to express things that are greater than us- the thing that binds us all together as part of the human family.

Are there particular associations with red and yellow in your training?

Not really. I'm sort of an intuitive thinker, so I just go with what I'm doing, what's attracting me and what draws me. I tried to pick a more pink red and a lighter yellow- I didn't want it to look like ketchup and mustard. Red seems like a very passionate, energetic color. And yellow is still warm, but more subdued and comforting.

I love that you photographed it on the grass. I think it's cool that your shoes are black and white, and tie in really nicely with the painting. It's cool- it's like you're seeing yourself in this chain of events, or something.

Yeah. Since the dancers were performing on grass, and I had my own artistic performance on the grass as well. I wanted to really tie those things together strongly. I also tried to turn my feet out- more of a direct reference to ballet performance in general.

Have you done any dance yourself?

Yes- I took ballet for two semesters in college. In my studio, when I'm not working, or I feel stuck and need to take a break, if I'm feeling good I'll just start dancing, all by myself in the studio. I'll just break out dancing, jump around. That's really why I wanted to respond to a dance piece- it's so closely related to me when I'm making my work. I've even been thinking about ways I could incorporate that part of my process into some more environmental piece. If I have a larger show, I could do an installation, or a projection of dance with other artists. Or just videos of myself, on the floor or around the paintings. It was really nice to respond to this and get close to that idea.

I wonder- do you see your work as a record of a performance?

I've never really thought of it that way. I'm not really sure how I think about it in that regard.

I think that the finished work, and the process by which its made, can have such an interesting relationship.

Absolutely. I think that the process of making work can be really important to the artist, and what they're going for, and how it's perceived by the audience. In even a theoretical sort of way. I remember when I was in college, I started painting on raw canvas, on the back side, and wetting the front of the canvas. So the pigment would keep its expressionistic form on the back, but it would bleed to the front of the canvas, and all of the colors would blend together. It was a metaphor for the expressionistic theory- and how it's really your actions that matter, but they're expressing an emotional state at the same time. But that emotional state has been hidden from the audience, and only an interpretation of that is what the audience can actually see.

When you look at this piece that you made now, what do you see? What does it say to you?

It speaks to me in a way. I think it was really interesting to make this piece in response to another medium of artistic expression. It really speaks to me in that regard. It's a response to its surroundings, and the artists themselves, and it talks about what context the artist puts themselves in, or where they find themselves, and how those seemingly really different aspects, like the grass, combine with this unstretched painting. It speaks to how so many different aspects go into making art. Different mediums, different inspiration into one final piece.

How does this relate to the rest of your work?

In the painted aspect of the photograph, I use a lot of the same techniques that I generally do. I take some expressionistic and figurative aspects and meld them into one, where you have the minimalist space gesturally portrayed on the canvas with expressionistic colors in the background. The painting aspect, I just kept the same style that I usually use.

What was it like to do this?

It was really fun. I started off doing quick paintings on paper, just in response to the movement, and the video, and the colors in that video, just to work through different ideas and construction of the piece. Then the photographic aspect of it was really spontaneous. I just let my intuition lead me. It just responded even more to the dance than the painting itself. It was nice to have that spontaneous aspect, it really spoke to me.

That's awesome- I think that's where the magic can really happen. When you let the content drive the process.

Do you have any advice for someone else doing this?

Let go of any expectations you have of what the final piece is going to look like. Go with your intuition and let something happen that you didn't really expect or plan to happen. I had a really, really good time. It was really great to work on this.

Call Number: Y30DA | Y31VA.byAlle

Chick Byrne earned a BFA in studio art from Denison University in 2009. His work is an amalgamation of several art theories; focusing on the divine aspects inherent in everyone. He currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts.