Hyperrealist painter Joseph Byrne is all about the mood and details in his painting. His goal, though, is not to paint the scene as it appears, but to incorporate the “air” and feeling of a place. This all begins with Byrne going to the location and experiencing the world before him. 

He says, “When I was younger, I drove my Harley to the location. The freedom of my bike added to the experience. I camp out at a lot of the sites. I’ve slept with frost on the ground. I’ve slept in barns. I’ve seen the early morning sun. I wait for the proverbial ‘golden hour,’ whether it’s dawn or dusk. I study it until it’s burned into my mind.”Morning Haze, acrylic on linen, 18 x 30"

While on location, Byrne takes in everything around him to use as reference when he’s back in the studio. This can range from sketches for color references, to photographs to actual vegetation that he’s collected at the site. He elaborates, “I do quick color sketches in watercolor that I use for color reference. You can’t trust a photo for that. A photo is just a roadmap. I’ve got branches and twigs stuck in bottles in my studio. I photograph surrounding vegetation for detail.Vandal 2, acrylic on linen, 60 x 45"

I use tissue overlays of pencil and I maneuver them to develop the composition. I develop a master composition with a grid. Then I scale it to size.”

This experience of taking in his surroundings is one Byrne compares to Mark Twain’s short story The Professional. “He became a riverboat pilot. He said he couldn’t ride as a simple passenger after that. He always looked at the river through the eyes of a riverboat pilot,” Byrne explains. “I do the same as an artist. Color in the sky, texture on a tree, the air that surrounds me. It all inspires me to the point that I can’t wait to get in front of my easel.”Sunday Morning, acrylic on linen, 42 x 30"

At the end of it all, when the work is complete, Byrne does his best to make the viewer of his artwork share in his experience. He says, “When standing in front of one of my paintings, I want the viewer to have the feeling they can walk into it. I want you in the painting. I want the vines to stick to your clothes. I want you to breathe the air around you. I want you to feel the temperature. I want you to stand where I stood.”Ocean Mist, acrylic on linen, 60 x 41"

Byrne’s process is easily noticed in his landscapes such as Morning Haze, The Salt Marsh and Ocean Mist. In these types of paintings, there is the feeling that the artist understands the place intimately because of the attention to details and atmosphere. He also focuses on architecture in pieces such as Sunday Morning, which dynamically shows the side of a white building, where its window with reflections and shadows on and off the stained glass being the focal point.The Salt Marsh, acrylic on linen, 24 x 36"

In other pieces, Byrne gets up close and personal, showing the nuances of a subject. He calls these works—including Vandal 2, which shows the graffiti-covered side of an industrial space—“abstract realism.” Explaining the works further, Byrne says, “I’m attracted to a color or abstract shapes. I will find an isolated part that speaks for the whole.”

Byrne’s artwork can be found in South Carolina at I. Pinckney Simons Gallery in Beaufort and at City Art Gallery in Columbia. —

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