George Byrne’s artwork has an otherworldly quality to it, though the world they inhabit is eerily similar to our own. A synthetic world, if you will, to borrow the title of his latest exhibition at Olsen Gallery—Synthetica.
In this world, streetscapes in pastels accompany hyper-realistic trees shading a human figure entirely in neon red. At first glance, you might think the images are painted, but they are closer to reality than they appear. “Each image in the Synthetica series started as a medium format film photograph,” explains Byrne. “Then, through a process of addition, subtraction, collage and endless re-evaluation, a completed image is born.”
Byrne explores the relationship between the natural and the artificial in his images, blurring the line between the two in a way that mirrors our current experience of the digital age. “Starting out as an artist, I was very much a student of the New Topographics photographic movement,” he says. “About 10 years ago, I started to employ various forms of manipulation and digital reconstruction into the work I was making. As a result, the works were able to become more expressive and introspective; a bridge between my subconscious and conscious.”
View, in pictures, George Byrne’s synthetic reality.
George Byrne, Main St, DTLA, 2024, photographic pigment print on archival cotton, 105cm x 105cm.
George Byrne, Evolution, 2024, photographic pigment print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Pho Restaurant Silver lake, 2023, pigment print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Rainbow Wall, 2024, pigment print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Desert Collage, 2024, print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Synthetica, 2024, print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Red Fence, 2024, print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Rego Sport Tuning, 2024, print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
George Byrne, Pink Cadillac, 2024, print on archival cotton, 121cm x 149cm.
Synthetica
George Byrne
Olsen Gallery
7 February—2 March
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