What do you do? Most of my time is spent putting pictures on walls, which involves reading and re-dressing spaces. To this end I also make objects which are less reliant on an external predetermined space.
When did you get into it? Some time around 1992 I started using public spaces as a place to publish my art, but I’ve been making stuff and drawing forever.
Who or what influences you as an artist? Stuff I come across, pieces of things, fragments of the world. The way an old man carries himself on the bus, the colour of middle-aged women’s shoes, a wall that’s never buffed with the same colour twice, the words a child uses. Paying attention to other artists’ processes. Collaboration, technical prowess and giving it a go.
What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Getting a line right or being happy with a painting the day I finish it. Having people say “Oh you did that?!”. Selling a collection of my handmade stickers to the NGA.
What are your plans for the future? To turn some of the drawings I’ve been doing lately into paintings and stencils. Have a solo show sometime this year. Seize what opportunities are presented to me and travel a little more extensively.
What makes you laugh? Just about everything. Misreading situations/intentions/people.
What pisses you off? I love that people care so much about so little. I despair that people care so little about so much.
What’s your opinion of the local scene? I’m not so closely involved as I once was and even then my involvement was peripheral, but people drift in and out, few stick with it. The stayers at the moment are a Graff crew, a clothing brand and a Sydney based artist, I didn’t even make that list.
What are your upcoming projects? I’ve got work in the National Gallery of Australia show Space Invaders till Feb. I’ve also got a number of public commissions coming up and any number of little interventions as the mood/opportunity strikes.
Contact info: byrd.hq@gmail.com
