ABOUT HUGH BYRNE

Hugh Byrne is based in Cape Town where he has exhibited extensively. Byrne’s latest body of work unveils hidden shapes and forms that lie unassumingly just below the surface of the landscapes that surround us. Combining bold colour, texture and geometric planes Byrne illustrates the tensions between geometry and abstraction, structure and dynamism in unexpected ways. This is a departure from Byrne’s earlier attraction to flat, clean surfaces, which partly obscured his interest in the textures and other material nuances of the urban landscape. This, along with the desire to give expression to the tension between figurative and abstract elements, has led to a body of work that furthers his experimentation with colour and form. By subjecting the canvas to multiple revisions via layering, erasure and addition, the history of the painting can be gleaned from it’s very surface.

Solo Exhibitions

2018   ‘Destablising the Object’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa 

2018   ‘Point And Line’, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017   ‘Tipping Point’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa 

2017   ‘Flipside’, Warren Editions, Cape Town, South Africa

2016   Solo Booth at Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa 

2015   ‘Tattarrattat’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019   ‘AKAA (Also Known As Africa)’ 2019, Paris, France

2019   Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa 

2019   ‘Barnard Collective’, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2018   ‘nano 1.2-’, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2017   ‘From The Horses Mouth’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa 

2017   ‘Summer Exhibition, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2017   Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016   ‘Abstracted’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa 

2016   ‘nano-’, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2016   That Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa 

2016   ‘Summer Exhibition’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2015   ‘In Collaboration With’, THAT Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa 

2015   ‘Landscapes’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa 

2015   ‘Group Show’, Literary Festival, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa

2014   ‘Emergence’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa 

2014   ‘Group Show’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa 

2014   ‘Group Show’, Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2013   ‘New Works’, Haas Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2013   ‘The Editions Show’, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa 

2013   ‘One in a Million’, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa 

2013   ‘Group Show’, Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2012   ‘First Thursday’, Divine Room New Heritage Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 

2012   ‘Conditions’, White River Gallery, Nelspruit, South Africa 

2012   ‘I’d Rather Be Swimming’, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa 

2012   ‘Industrial Abstractions’, The Factory, Durban, South Africa 

2012   ‘Expression Sunset’, Salon 91, Cape Town, South Africa 

2012   ‘Shedding Skins’, ELE Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2010   ‘Discovered City’, Mahe Xin, Taipei, Taiwan

2006   ‘Abstraction in Colour’, Side Café, Pretoria, South Africa