Oisín Byrne works across film, writing, painting and performance. Seeking to unravel the way in which language steers society, Byrne uses these different mediums to express personal stories, fictional fragments, and sentiments of queer release. Developing both ‘intimate and expanded portraiture’ as the artist puts it, his experimental films traverse public and private experiences by entangling the ways in which individuals are perceived societally, and the way they view themselves or are understood by their peers. Dizzying, dreamy, and lyrical, these films reside in a distinctly poetic setting, with the influence of Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas’s diaristic, intimate filmmaking tecniques. Byrne’s drawings and paintings echo the sense of instability developed in his films. Repeatedly returning to classical still life compositions, Byrne renders vases of flowers wilting in concrete, bright colours— the high-spirited palette juxtaposing the faded beauty of their petals. A constant throughout Byrne’s practice is a commitment to community and collaboration, with reference to the immense comfort it brings the artist and the way in which it fuels his work. ...
Amanda Wilkinson opened her gallery in November 2017, having been a partner in Wilkinson Gallery, and brought with her the artists that she had worked with since 2003. Most of these internationally renowned artists had their first solo UK exhibition at the gallery: Joan Jonas and Shimabuku in 2004, Sung Hwan Kim in 2007, Jimmy DeSana in 2009, and Laurie Simmons in 2011. The program has also introduced younger artists such as Heman Chong, Phoebe Unwin, Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė all of whom have solo exhibitions in public institutions this year. Amanda Wilkinson is a trustee of the Derek Jarman Estate and is the sole gallery who represents the work. The program continues to highlight key historical artists who are little known to the wider art world, including Paolo Gioli, Ketty La Rocca and Margaret Raspé and will introduce new artists to the program in 2020 in keeping with the gallery’s experimental and cross-generational approach. The gallery has presented four Feature booths at ArtBasel in the past , featuring six artists from the program. Eight out of the twelve artists represented by the gallery had solo museum exhibitions in 2019/2020. ...
