Roger BYRT (b.1959)

“My paintings are an ongoing attempt to depict eternal things such as light, space and form…I love painting objects that to me, possess monumental and magical qualities…”*

These words go to the core of Roger Byrt’s art and his approach to painting.

Byrt was born in Melbourne in 1959. Completing a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art Painting) at Caulfield Institute of Technology (now a campus of Monash University, Melbourne Australia) he dedicated himself to painting early. From 1987 – 2001 he held the positions of lecturer and then joint Head of Painting, Faculty of Art and Design, at Monash. Upon stepping down from teaching, Byrt dedicated himself to full-time work as an artist.

Melbourne art critic Robert Nelson has said of Roger's work, "There is an element of compositional rigor in the works and the arguments within them between surface and illusionistic depth. Though poetic, there is no rhapsodic dimension: they are all intellectually engineered to form spaces, shadows and reflection. Byrt's pictorial process has a great purity."**

Influenced by early Renaissance art, later 16th century Italian art, and by the Scuola Metafisica artists ( e.g. Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carra), Byrt's work emits a strong sense of fantasy, musicality, grace and sublimity. They demonstrate nature in a continuous abstract flux: the physical and the metaphysical combine.

Byrt's paintings are inhabited by surrealist metaphors, disjunctive juxtapositions and dramatic chiaroscuro. Think of the folds of drapery in a Caravaggio painting or the dramatic, surreal ambivalence in a Georgia O'Keeffe flower painting.

Working in a method that employs Old Master glazing techniques to create paintings that he regards as essentially metaphysical, Byrt's works have a sublimely finished, ethereal, and incorporeal quality. They evoke a sense of visual irony and ambiguity. “...there are resonances and paradoxes, tensions and areas of serene open space, but we are offered few clues to these visual conundrums "***

Byrt says: "...I don't like the idea of explaining the artwork, I try to title evocatively so as to provide a handle for the viewer. I firmly believe that a good painting should present more questions to people than answers. I'm interested in making beautiful things."****

Yet for all their ambivalence, Byrt's works show great consideration and an enviable painterly skill.

Since his first solo exhibition at the now legendary Pinacotheca Gallery in Richmond in 1988, Byrt has had over twenty-one solo shows including six at Pinacotheca , several with Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney; Axia Modern Art, Melbourne; Eastgate Galleries, Melbourne; and an exhibition at the Australian Centre, Australian Embassy, Manilla, Philippines. He has been included in many group exhibitions, and is represented in Public Collections, including the Museum of Modern Art at Heide; Monash University and R.M.I.T, Melbourne. His works also hang in many corporate and private collections in Australia, Asia and Europe.

Roger has been the recipient of a number of high-profile grants for his work including an Ian Potter Foundation Grant for a Citibank Commission (Caravaggio in 3D); an Australia Council Grant for an exhibition at Australia Centre, Manila, Philippines: and a VCAB Grant to Verdaccio Studios in Italy. In 1992, he was the recipient of the Diamond Valley Acquisitive Art Award.

His work is represented in public, corporate and private collections in Australia and overseas including, Artbank; Museum of Modern Art at Heide; Monash University; The Broken Hill Art Gallery: Grafton Regional Gallery: Riddoch Art Gallery: Dubbo Regional Gallery: Department of Agriculture, RMIT; Lasalle-Sia College of the Arts, Singapore; Adorna Institute of Technology, (RMIT, Penang); ANZ; National Australia Bank; Citibank; and The Art Trust.

* Roger Byrt quoted in Art and Australia

** Robert Nelson, quoted in The Age Melbourne

*** Roger Byrt quoted in Art and Australia

**** Roger Byrt quoted in Art and Australia

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Roger BYRT (b.1959)