J O E B Y R N E : Industrial-Strength; Abstracted Realism, Nov. 12 - Jan. 31

Link to a review from the Free-Times 11/15/10

 http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1991103094321166&act=post&pid=11861511101370922

Watch a short video of Joe's work on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKzU65jV_88

Joe Byrnes Ignites ART+CAYCE

with Industrial-Strength Art


G.I.G.O, 42" x 72"



 












Growing up in Brooklyn and Long Island, Cayce artist Joe Byrne lived near chaotic docklands and bleak industrial parks. His astonishing new body of work draws on an early exposure to colossal steel backhoes, intricate winches, hydraulic pistons, and other muscular machines. An exhibition of Byrne’s photographic-style paintings called “Industrial Strength: Abstracted Realism” opens at the ART+Cayce gallery, 1329 State St., on 12 November with a reception for the artist from 6-9 pm. Gallery owner Maryellyn Cannizzaro remarked, “the fact that an artist of Joe’s caliber lives, works and exhibits in Cayce shows how much we appreciate the Arts on this side of the river.” On view will be a dozen impressive canvases that explore the machismo and elegance that Byrne discovers in heavy equipment like boxcars and in mammoth structures like bridges.

 

The Bridge, 38" x 60"



Most of Byrne’s realistic pieces zero in on a moving part: a latch, piston or gear. As Byrne puts it, “instead of painting the whole scene, I’m much more interested in editing it down to the minimum. To me it’s the isolation of a part that speaks to a whole.” With technical precision Byrne conveys the tension of nuts and bolts on an I-beam, the force of hydraulic pistons, and the balletic motion of swing levers on a steel door. So lifelike is the image that you can practically feel the heat reflecting off the paint surface, or hear the squeal of a corroded hinge. “You could easily believe that this girder is holding up a bridge or that this truck is idling outside your window,” said Cannizzaro. While these pictures capture the physical beauty of steel, they convey the conceptual beauty of strength pure and simple.



2 Ton Capacity 37" x 60"














Some of these machines have done hard work. Their rust, holes, scrapes, and gouges prove it. Given the planar surfaces, hard shadows, and straight lines, these images of Big Metal could hardly be called “organic.” Unlike Lewis Hine’s 1920 photograph “Powerhouse Mechanic,” which showed a man tightening a nut in front of a huge turbine, Byrne’s paintings imply a human presence through ingenious engineering and English instructions: “open ... seal ... unlatch to close door.” Simply put, these machines are projections of the men who designed, built and used them. It’s hard to resist the thought Byrne’s train car is enjoying the dignity of its hard work. In fact, these positive images celebrate industrial tools as metal muscle.

Joe Byrne trained as a commercial artist and illustrator in New York before he re-located to the Columbia area in the late 1960s. In South Carolina he worked as an illustrator and designer for SCETV and the South Carolina Wildlife Magazine. As a freelance artist, he supplied illustrations for local, regional and national publications.

Copyright © 2010, ART+CAYCE, All rights reserved



October 7 - 28: Jon McMillan

 

SEPT 16th: Urban/Organic: New works by - Amanda Ladymon

Bri Kinard - Aug. 12th

b r i   k i n a r d - Aug. 12 - 31

Join us for the reception - Thursday, August 12th 5 - 7 pm

As a ceramic artist, Bri’s work directly references harsh industrial tools and weapons. When paired with lighter organic 'feathers', the tools combine to create a beautiful yet tense duality.

Home town:
Columbia, SC

Education:
BFA- Art Studio /focus in ceramics
Graduate School- Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.)/ fall 2010

April 9th: Photo Shoot with Racioppo at CMC Steel

Here are some photographs take by Larry Racioppo during the CMC Steel photo shoot. Accompanying Larry are USC photography students. We grately appreciated the hospitality of CMC Steel Mill as they allowed us guided access to this amazing site.

April 8th : Larry Racioppo - NY Photographer

Gritty Photographer of Urban Landscape to Exhibit
at ART + CAYCE

From April 8th - May 8th, New York photographer and Guggenheim Fellow Larry Racioppo will exhibit his panoramic photographs at the ART + CAYCE gallery, located at 1329 State St., Cayce. "A Photographer in the City" opens on April 8th with a public lecture at 4 pm in room 214 of the McMaster building, USC (1615 Senate St.). A reception will follow from 6-8 pm at the ART + CAYCE gallery. Racioppo’s career as the architectural photographer for the City of New York will be the subject of a brief gallery talk at 7 pm by UNC Charlotte Architecture Professor Thomas Forget.

Racioppo explores the history of buildings and their absent inhabitants. His large-scale photographs express the loss associated with urban decay, evoking lives spent in schools, churches, and theaters that are now blighted. Images of Ellis Island suggest how the dreams of immigrants lay at the end of a vanishingly long corridor, while a soaring bank lobby recalls the grandeur of the Middle Class dream. Racioppo’s images make us remember our own temporary, and sometimes accidental, gatherings. New York Times critic Ken Johnson describes Racioppo’s photographs as "sympathetic, neither satirizing nor proselytizing. You don’t have to be devout yourself to be touched by the human yearning for supernatural meaning that his photographs evoke."

 

Racioppo began capturing New York urban culture in 1970, when he shot Italian-American neighborhoods, kids playing street football, religious rituals, and apartment interiors. This early work culminated in a book called Halloween. Since that time, Racioppo’s photographs have been exhibited widely, including one-person shows at the Museum of the City of New York, The National Building Museum, Ellis Island, The Municipal Art Society (New York,) Safe-T-Gallery, and The Museum of Biblical Art (New York). Racioppo has received prestigious support from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Puffin Foundation, as well as honors from the Golden Light Awards and the Queens Council on the Arts.

As a visiting artist at USC, Racioppo will also conduct Master Classes in Photography with a photo shoot at the CMC Steel and Metal Recycling facility in Cayce.

February 18 - March 18 : josh drews!

ART+CAYCE proudly presents josh drews!, a printmaker who specializes in monotypes. His work engages rendered subjects with expressive backgrounds. Drews also teaches visual arts at Spring Valley High School in northeast Columbia.

The gallery opening is Thursday, Feb. 18 from 6-8 pm.

Gallery talk by Josh Drews at 7 p.m., on process and production.

The show will run from Feb. 18th to Mar. 18th

Show sponsored by Compass 5 Partners & Undefined Magazine

josh drews!

http://joshuadrews.com/home.html  

Josh Drews says, “Creating monotypes provides a sense of freedom that I have yet to find in any other medium.” The experience allows him to be very expressive with mark-making and color. After printing the initial product, he refines the marks, adding details and other special features, allowing the piece to emerge into the final product. Drews says, “I love creating an interaction between rendered subjects and expressive backgrounds.”

As a child, Drews would spend hours sketching characters, creating his own comics, and filling notebooks with assorted drawings of dinosaurs, robots, and superheroes. Creating art has always been a driving force in his life. In 2001, after graduating from Winthrop University with a BFA in General Studio Art, Drews was offered the opportunity to teach visual arts at Spring Valley High School in northeast Columbia.

Drews admits that teaching art has been an overwhelming, yet rewarding experience. With around thirty teenagers rotating through his classroom every forty-five minutes, six times a day, Drews claims that it makes you grow up fast. Not only has he grown as a young adult but he has also grown tremendously as an artist. Drews' passion for art has grown stronger by teaching his students and learning from these young artists.

Currently, Drews continues to spend time on his own artwork - primarily monotypes.