Oisín Byrne: On Being Named at Cecilia Brunson Projects

Oisín Byrne, self-portrait, Cecilia Brunson Projects

Despite portraiture’s enduring appeal in art, novelty isn’t necessarily an attribute we associate with such a well-worn genre. In his solo exhibition at Cecilia Brunson Projects, Oisín Byrne delves into this form through the multifarious media of drawing, painting, film, text and a mural. Examining the relationship between self and others, seer and the seen, subject and the object, Byrne subverts our expectations and associations of this timeless genre.

The exhibition takes its name from an eponymous essay written by the artist ‘On Being Named’ which examines the politics of name-calling and its implications on identity. Byrne’s text is a fascinating analysis on the positive connotations of name-calling as well as its aggressive or violating aspects, which is essentially an inversion of intimacy (we are touched but in a negative way). Indeed, intimacy along with autobiography, game-play and otherness is what drives Byrne’s practice. As he writes: “My interest is in the intimate: in those things and people that come so close – so proximate – as to easily be mistaken for a part of the self. I am fascinated by the demarcation of intimate space: in the rules, the allowances and the risks; in emotional hygiene; in easy intimacy and its easy breakage.”

Oisín Byrne, installation view, Cecilia Brunson Projects

Byrne’s drawings are a study of the proximate. Nestled in a mural that is at once subtle and strident, they feature close-ups of lone sitters with averted gazes and thoughtful, preoccupied expressions. These elements build on the sense of the singular, but there is something of the dynamic or fervidness in Byrne’s languid ink-pen portraits, challenging our perception of the sitter as a passive subject. We understand these sitters exist alongside the artist; they are collaborative in essence, but autonomous in another sense. This relationship echoes Byrne’s wider practice which is collaborative by nature and has seen the him working with a diverse range of specialists such as astrophysicists and fashion designers. Also on view is a six minute film made with Gary Farrelly, an excerpt from a 3 year film project Glue, exploring the social and emotional glue which ties together two characters – their imperfections, tenderness, loyalty and selfishness. The stuff of intimacy indeed.

Oisín Byrne, On Being Named at Cecilia Brunson Projects, London, 14 April through 14 May 2016

Oisín Byrne will be in conversation with Sophie Fiennes at Cecilia Brunson Projects, on Thursday 12 May between 7.30 and 9.00pm.