Inside Out—Chris Byrd

At work in his studio, Chris Byrd tunes out of what’s going on outside and immerses himself in the joy and beauty that’s happening within the space of the paintings. In this space, color, line, form, and surface play together in an abstract language that references the energy and anxiety of contemporary life. Returning to the world outside, his attention shifts back to practical considerations and routine responsibilities, shifts back to reality. While functioning in reality fulfills everyday obligations, he is simultaneously observing and responding to nature and culture, mining it for the ideas that define who he is as an individual and who we are collectively at this moment in time. These ideas ultimately find their way back into the studio and into the paintings, albeit transformed in an abstract response, that reflects upon and marks the history and the continuing evolution of himself as well as his work. This tack, this moving back and forth between realms, serves as the theoretical basis of his practice and is critical to the exploration of his identity as a creative, courageous yet vulnerable being and artist navigating the parallel environments of the real and imagined.