Scottish Art Pick: John Byrne & the Matter of Drawing - Esther
Drawing is a powerful form of communication. It’s a way to understand the
world. It’s a foundation, a keystone. It’s amazing how much art requires
drawing compared with how little some people seem to think it’s required. Of
course, it’s not all that’s involved but like writing, there’s more to drawing
than mere mark-making. I do love to doodle though, especially in the middle
of an apparently endless meeting. Sometimes drawing keeps us occupied yet present,
whether we consider ourselves artists or not. Drawing makes the impossible
possible, it helps us make sense of what we see in & outside our heads.
Aside from its functions in design, science & maths, I love to see an
artist that knows the value of being able to draw & utilise its subset of
various skills. Just because I prefer drawing in itself to other ways of
expressing myself doesn’t mean that drawing doesn’t matter when it comes to
painting or sculpture. In two dimensions at least, drawing brings me closer to
my work; a brush somehow just seems to take me a further step away. I was given
valuable messages about drawing from one of my art teachers at school, such as
“you never really see something until
you draw it” & “drawing is eighty per cent looking…” Such messages stay with us.
& when a respected & multi-talented artist puts his name to an
annual drawing competition - celebrating & promoting drawing for drawing’s
sake - for school-age children in Scotland, the message is all the more commanding
& influential. The John Byrne Competition under the umbrella of the John
Byrne Award has been running since 2014 & not only does it carry various
prizes, it carries the significance of potentially teaching generations of
children that drawing matters.
You may know John Byrne through his writing more than through his artwork
or vice versa. Or you may already be fortunate to have had your life enriched
by both. As I recall, I was aware of his writing first. Tutti Frutti was aired on TV in 1987 & I remember vivid snapshots
of it.
But my memory is an unreliable thing & in truth I feel like I’ve known
his 1974 portrait of Billy Connolly since birth (not possible), so I can’t be
certain which came into my consciousness first. The portrait in question is
bold, full-length & because of the clothing, at an initial glance slightly
of its time. One proud Scottish institution portrayed by another. In my
opinion, this portrait also epitomises one of the most important aspects of
John Byrne’s work – humour. His is a clever humour: deep, sometimes dark, less
obvious, verging on sarcasm. It’s knowing, wry perhaps. & it’s less about overt
humour & more about a conscious twinkle, an expression of a lust for life,
living & love. What you find is, you learn about John Byrne through his
art.
Whilst simplifying Billy’s hands & face, he focuses on the details of
his clothing, yet ingeniously pulling the eye towards his hands & head. The
jazzy outfit should be an outward distraction but it only serves to force
examination of the man inside it. Despite its familiarity, I can look &
look & always find something fresh about this painting. The pose, the point
& the outlandish style sum up Billy’s act & persona at a particular
point in time. He no longer needs the starry costume to remind him of who he is
& John Byrne’s most recent portrait of him reflects this.
Some of John Byrne’s most magnificent work is of his own image, his
technical brilliance matched only by how interesting
his head is in reality. It’s partly a cultivated interest of course by a
recently titled “Scotland’s most stylish man;” the three-quarter angle side-eye
gaze, the sometimes present glasses, the often present cigarette, the
inordinate whiskering.
Others of his best works are of those people he knows
well, the heads he’s had conversations with, shared time with, communed with, pooled
ideas with. Like other artists, these types of work exude an energy &
immediacy that signpost a clearly different purpose than his more commercial
work - or even group subjects - despite its accomplished refinement.
When you search for superficial information about John Byrne, detail is
scant. Even his wiki has him as “John Byrne (playwright) to distinguish him
from other J. Byrnes (not easily done as it turns out). His plays come first here
& one gets the sense of a masking of the person behind the collaborations…&
then a revealing.
What you can find out in print is only the surface so you must look at his
work or listen to him talk about his work to you feel you are reaching
something close to his truth. This is refreshing these days, when everyone’s vaguely
controversial views & bohemian tendencies are usually aired freely whether
you want to hear about them or not:
There’s shyness & softness in the way he speaks that belies the artistic
force & philosophy he embraces…here with his old friend Billy Connolly for
instance:
He’s reaching into his subjects, into himself.
In an artistic sense, “People seem to skip over that quite lightly, the
appearance of people…& that’s your outer face to the world! I cannae
imagine why it doesnae intrigue everybody.”
Given that what we present to others & how we choose (to an extent) to
look is such a profound part of who we are, I can’t imagine either.
He’s the living embodiment of doing what you like being the best thing to
do.
He’s a phenomenal draughtsman that gives back to the future by encouraging
drawing in the young.
There is absolutely no-one like John Byrne & nothing else like his work.
He’s a profoundly true artist.
John Byrne, we salute you.
More John Byrne:
With Frank Quitely who I wrote about before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq-GAUnDVek
Thank you for the turn on! I am now a John Byrne fan. Every one of the pieces you've chosen is wonderful, but, to comment on the Billy Connolly full length, I love the expression, the finger pointing, the shadow, it is wonderful and I had no idea about the platform shoes... Ha!
ReplyDeleteJust wonderful, Esther.
Also, that is an Ocelot in that Daliesque painting! Nice homage. Do you know more about that one?
ReplyDeleteThere's always such fresh, new-to-me information in these art pieces, that I keep meaning to return with more time and concentration. I'm happy for the various interview pieces, as it'll give my American ears more of a chance at immersion. I have difficulties with some low frequencies of voices in the first place, but throw in a pronounced accent and it's a huge struggle for me at least until I've decrypted and mentally matched the cadence. Before that, my inner translator's lagging several seconds behind and missing at least every third word.
ReplyDeleteMy being one of the great unwashed when it comes to the world of art means that while I was familiar with Frank Quitely, my comics-stunted body of life experience has my knowledge about anything "John Byrne" to be about the British-born artist and writer whose body of work is almost exclusively in American comic books, and who is a decade younger than the Byrne you've introduced to me here.