Penny Byrne: Commentariat

Penny Byrne: Commentariat

Deakin University Art Gallery

Penny Byrne: Commentariat

Deakin University Art Gallery is pleased to present Penny Byrne’s much anticipated solo exhibition. You may think that Byrne’s first major curated solo show in a public gallery is long overdue, as it is hard to remember a time when you could not see her work. But Byrne only started making her own work in 2001. Her first group exhibition was the Pat Emery Award for Emerging Ceramists organised by the Victorian Ceramic Group in 2001, for which she received an Honourable Mention.

Whilst it is fitting that her career in the arts began with the Victorian Ceramic Group, it was the inclusion of her work in the Linden Postcard Show in 2005 that really launched her career as an artist. In this year, she was a postcard winner. Joanna Strumpf and Ursula Sullivan from Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art in Sydney visited Byrne after seeing the postcard, viewed her studio, signed her to their gallery and the rest, as they say, is history.

I first met Byrne when I was Director of the Shepparton Art Gallery. Shepparton is well known for its outstanding ceramic collection and when I first met her she was (and still is) considered to be an authority on ceramic restoration, being one of the only (if not the only) person working in Australia who had studied ceramic and glass conservation and restoration at West Dean College in the United Kingdom. When Byrne started making her own work the story of the contrast of repairing and restoring broken and damaged ceramics to the highest museum standards by day, then breaking and reconstructing the ceramics and including a variety of trashy materials by night, helped create an interesting story that fascinated people and sparked interest in her work.

Subsequently this story has faded into the background and she has become better known for her startling reconstructed ceramic sculptures which still capture people’s imagination yet also invite comment with their confronting, witty and unapologetic imagery. Described by John McPhee in the catalogue essay as ‘collages, made-up of a variety of “found” objects’, Byrne’s work has also been described as political cartoons using ceramics. Of the exhibition title Byrne stated, ‘“Commentariat” is described as a term that has been coined as a combination of commentator and proletariat, and

refers to “the chattering classes” – the educated middle class urban dwellers, who comment on politics and the media through blogs and Facebook.’1

I would like to thank Penny Byrne for her assistance in organising the exhibition and congratulate her on her first major curated solo show in a public gallery. I am deeply appreciative of the assistance of Joanna Strumpf and Ursula Sullivan (and their support staff) at Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney for their assistance in putting the exhibition together and to thank them for keeping such good records of Byrne’s work!

I would also like to thank the many private collectors and public institutions that have loaned works to the exhibition – without their generosity the exhibition would not have been possible. Finally, I would like to thank John McPhee for his insightful catalogue essay and Jasmin Tulk for the catalogue design.

A word of warning, Byrne’s work is confronting. Yet is it any more confronting than imagery we see everyday on television, in movies, on the web or in video games? Perhaps it is, because Nanna’s favourite and revered figurine is now missing its arm and bleeding profusely.

Leanne Willis Exhibition Curator

1. Email from the artist, 3 November 2010

George and Laura were well prepared for the ‘Long War’ 2006 vintage porcelain figurine, plastic toy machine gun, epoxy resin, retouching medium, powder pigments 17 x 14 x 7.5 cm

Photographer: Graham Baring Courtesy Gould Galleries

Penny Byrne: not niCe

Penny Byrne’s work is not nice. In fact, it is nasty in many ways, and deliberately sets out to be so. Upsetting the viewer’s equanimity is the artist’s intention.

The makings of Byrne’s sculpture are found in junk shops and by trolling through internet sales sites. There is a lively market in second-hand stores and ‘antique’ markets, as well as on-line, in the sale of the objects she uses to create her sculpture. A wealth of kitsch, including ghastly imitations of 18th century figurines, especially the debased Japanese reproductions of the German originals, and toys, – Barbie dolls for Sarah Palin figures, and Action Men for fantasy heroes, are plundered. Even sets of flying ducks, the subject of long standing jokes about middle-class taste, have been pressed into service. More recently she has begun to use reproductions of Tang Dynasty ceramics, particularly horses, a long time favourite of interior decorators trying to give a room a bit of ‘class’.

Some of these objects are valued by people who fail to understand and appreciate the difference between an original object and the meaningless and cheap replicas they collect. The things which she buys to destroy, cut up, reassemble, re-work and decorate are valueless, nothing more than kitsch reminders of the past. How far from the beauty of 18th century porcelain figures, and the power of a real Tang horse, are these poor imitations? How is it that there are those who cannot tell, or do not care, about the difference? Byrne takes the debased form of these sculptures and uses them to describe a modern world, valuing quantity rather than quality, in which it becomes increasingly difficult to discern what matters.

Most obviously, Byrne’s work takes on current issues. Political, social and environmental concerns are frequent subjects. The ethical stance of individuals and governments is challenged. No subject is ignored, no one is safe. She constantly challenges our awareness of the failings of modern society and our need to act before it is too late.

The gauntlet was thrown down challenging our contemporary smugness in one of Byrne’s earliest works. In Hilary had made a complete ass of herself again, 2004, one of the heads in an imitation Dresden figurine of two women reclining in an arbour was substituted for that of a white horse (close enough to an ass). The 20th century interpretation of the 18th century porcelain figurine is silly and saccharine

enough, the skirts of the women being made from ghastly ruffles of nylon, the object having no sculptural integrity. The obvious reference was to Hillary Clinton’s forgiveness of her husband’s infidelity, and her perceived failure to stand up for women’s rights. The more subtle reference was to the unlikely love between the queen of the fairies and an actor who has mischievously been given the head of an ass in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and its complex symbolism. Since then, public figures – international and Australian – including Laura and George Bush, Condoleezza Rice and George Bush, Janette and John Howard, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, Sarah Palin, and a hapless David Hicks, have all been lampooned, and occasionally pitied.

Political issues, such as the ‘war on terror’ and George Bush and his supporters have been vigorously attacked, often repeatedly. In 2006, George and Laura were well prepared for the ‘Long War’ #2, became in 2007, George and Laura were all set to shock and awe #2. In 2008, George and Laura simply adored the War on Terror #2. In 2009, when Bush was no longer significant, an anonymous couple danced the War on Terror Waltz. These sculptures all make use of modern imitations of 18th century figurines, some a pair of figures for either end of the chimneypiece. Byrne substitutes the floral sprays of their original dress with more practical camouflage and the figures are kittedout with military helmets and carry machine guns while grenades dangle from their waists. Similarly, when the climate changed, political imprisonment – the subject of Guantanamo Bay souvenirs in 2007 –was updated three years later to Gitmo Bay souvenirs. Closing down sale, all stock must go! The porcelain originals of these figures represented the seasons, mythological figures or the arts, or were mischievous putti. They belonged to a time when small sculptural figurines were part of an interior in which all of the decorative elements manifested a unity. In Byrne’s more serious world they are fitted-out in the familiar orange of a prisoner’s suit and chained from wrist to ankle. The eye mask of the Venetian reveller becomes a sinister blindfold. The comments are as deadly as the politics. The repetition hammers home the point, that we ignore the contemporary world’s lack of values at our peril.

As Byrne’s work develops she adds more layers of meaning – and more irony. While war is a constant theme, so are Gay rights, whaling, global warming and overpopulation. In 2008 Save me, save me from

tomorrow. I don’t want to sail on this Ship of Fools, I want to run and hide, right now1 , was Byrne’s largest assemblage of figures. This collage of figures conjuredup the mythical ship of fools, with its passengers – the deranged, ignorant and frivolous, pilotless and without direction – all at sea in a leaky boat. They created a tower threatening to topple at any moment. This ark of people, some equipped with diving helmets, also reminds us of the obvious Biblical reference to the Christian God’s wrath and the Great Flood that destroyed the people who had disobeyed their God and failed to care for his earth. But like much of Byrne’s sculpture there are multiple references which in this instance includes historical events depicted in art, in particular Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa of 1818–19. More topically the reference is to the familiar photographs in our daily papers in which we see refugees piled on top of each other as their over-laden boats threaten to sink, and as our pitiless government tows them away to be ‘processed’.

In 2009 The four horsemen of the 21st century Apocalypse; Food shortages, Water scarcity, Peak oil and Over population2 made their ominous debut. The riders are Action Men whose porcelain dolls’ heads are eyeless and as unseeing as those who deny these impending potential disasters. They ride reproduction Chinese horses originally created as funerary sculpture to accompany the dead in the afterlife. Each horse and rider is appropriately decorated, Food shortages with rice, lentils, and corn and the rider wearing a rice bowl as a helmet; Water scarcity’s horse carries a bath plug in its mouth, has a tap sticking out of its side and the rider’s headgear is made from empty glasses; oil leaks from the body of Peak oil’s horse, and Over population’s horse carries a myriad of figures. Each rider is ominously armed. A similar horse and rider in Green Wash Warrior rides in to Save the Planet in 2010 is fitted-out for battle with a wonderful variety of green plastic items, mostly those found in a kitchen, including a funnel and a basting brush. The rider, a ridiculous greenie, has the glinting eyes of an idealistic fanatic, as well as a tikka on his forehead. Any vestige of authority he may have aspired to is stripped from him by a frog hat. His is a fashion victim burdened down with water-saving devices, undoubtedly ineffectual!

Among contemporary sculptors Byrne’s work is unusual. Most modern sculpture is large, made to fill a space, to be impressive either indoors or outdoors. When big is best, Byrne’s figurines belong to a tradition almost forgotten today. Small sculpture,

especially porcelain, for display on table tops and chimneypieces in everyday rooms and for personal enjoyment, has become unfashionable. Even the word ‘figurine’, which aptly describes her work, has become a pejorative term. In plundering the past, and re-inventing the figurine, Byrne forces us to reconsider some of our prejudices about small sculpture. She also creates sculpture that, in its size and detail, fits easily into a modern interior, while its subject and construction demand that we take time to examine and think about its meaning and purpose.

Byrne’s sculptures are collages, made-up of a variety of ‘found’ objects, some that might be valued by indiscriminate collectors, and some that come from the kitchen drawer. While cutting-up, blowing apart and reassembling, painting and adding to, she creates elaborate and complex objects that again begin to resemble their kitsch origin. Like the fanatical collector of masses of Barbie dolls and Action Men possessed by the desire to own one, or more, of every model, and the collector of modern reproductions of 18th century figurines who cannot see their debasement of the original, Byrne’s work can amuse us. However, we laugh at them at our peril. We cannot remain in a world surrounded by kitsch, unaware and uncaring. There is a serpent in the garden and contemporary humankind is in danger.

Several years ago Penny Byrne told me how the purchaser of one of her works with a particularly virulent political message had completely failed to see the point. Apart from questioning why they had bought it, we both wondered if there was a time bomb sitting on someone’s mantelpiece. It is difficult to imagine anyone missing the point of Byrne’s sculptures. Their messages are loud and clear, and definitely not nice.

John McPhee, 2011

John McPhee is a curator and art historian, specialising in Australian art and decorative arts. He was the Founding Curator of Australian Decorative Arts and later Senior Curator of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, and Deputy Director at the National Gallery of Victoria. He has written books on the colonial artists John Glover and Joseph Lycett, Australian art and decorative arts.

footnotes:

1.Save me, save me from tomorrow. I don’t want to sail on this Ship of Fools, I want to run and hide, right now 2008 is in the Lyon Collection.

2.The four horsemen of the 21st century Apocalypse; Food shortages, Water scarcity, Peak oil and Over population is in the shepparton Art Gallery Collection.

IMAGE ABOVE

Five Minutes to Midnight. Tic Toc Tic Toc 2008 vintage ceramic figure group with original clock mechanism, vintage Action Man accessories, plastic missiles, epoxy resin, retouching medium, powder pigment 24 x 26 x11 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Mordant Family Collection

IMAGE BELOW

$EI$ 2008 modern bisque figurine, paper play money, TAB betting slips, PVA, epoxy putty, retouching medium, powder pigments 26 x 31 x 10 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Private Collection

Not Another Landmine Lamented Sallyanne 2009 vintage ceramic figurine, vintage draughts pieces, vintage Action Man accessories, epoxy resin, epoxy putty, powder pigments, retouching medium 49 x 39 x 20 cm

Collection of shepparton Art Gallery

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Donated by the artist through the Cultural Gifts Program, 2010

War on Terror Waltz 2009 porcelain figurines, vintage Action Man accessories, retouching medium, powder pigments, miniature War on Terror Service medal, epoxy resin 26 x 21 x 15 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Deakin University Art Collection purchase 2010

Green Wash Warrior Rides in to Save the Planet 2010 replica Tang horse, vintage Action Man, porcelain doll’s head, green mixed media found objects, epoxy putty, green paints 65 x 56 x 25 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Holmesglen Collection of Contemporary Art

Hilary had made a complete ass of herself again 2004 altered vintage Dresden figurine group, epoxy putty, retouching medium, powder pigments 21 x 16 x 22 cm

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H1N1 2007 vintage ceramic figurine, epoxy putty, retouching medium, powder pigment 15.5 x 14.5 x 6 cm

IMAGE BELOW

Banker Joker Wanker 2009 antique porcelain figurine, Dad’s bantam eggs, enamel gold paint, PVA, retouching medium, powder pigments 26 x 34 x 19 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection of Joanna Morrison

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Luke Fildes Collection

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection of Dr Clinton Ng

IMAGE ABOVE

H5N1 (no 2) 2006 vintage porcelain figurine, porcelain chickens, epoxy resin, epoxy putty, retouching medium, powder pigments 17 x 11 x 9 cm

IMAGE BELOW

Dangerous Liaisons (Going to the Chapel of Love) 2006 vintage porcelain figure groups, epoxy resin, retouching medium, powder pigments, vintage wooden plinth 16 x 28 x 10.5 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection of the Artist

Where’s my vote? 2009 vintage earthenware figurine, vintage action man clothing and accessories, retouching medium, powder pigments, epoxy resin, PVA 51 x 17 x 17 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Private Collection

Photographer Graham Baring Courtesy Gould Galleries

Gitmo Bay Souvenirs. Closing Down Sale, All Stock Must Go! 2010 altered vintage porcelain figurines, metal chains, epoxy resin, powder pigments, retouching medium 34 x 15 x 65 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art

In the Land of the Free they call David a Terrorist. At home he was just a little Hick 2006 altered vintage porcelain figure, teal, epoxy resin, powder pigments, retouching medium, metal chain and padlock

37 x 16 x 19 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department

Warrnambool Art Gallery Collection, purchased through New Social Commentaries, 2006

Suicide Blonde 2 2006 vintage plaster figurine lamp base, glass beer bottle, PVA, epoxy resin, acrylic paints, retouching medium, powder pigments, new lamp shade

38 x 38 x 20 cm

Photographer Graham Baring Courtesy Gould Galleries

“Let’s Forget Global Warming” said Alice “and have a tea party instead” 2010 altered vintage ceramic figurine 77 x 33 x 26 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection of Broderick Ely

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Private Collection

32 x 39 x 14 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection of Dr Clinton Ng

IMAGE BELOW

IMAGE ABOVE

Sarah Palin Hockey Mom 2009 altered vintage ceramic figurine 48 x 30 x 14 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art

Shit Creek 2010 resin polar bear, 100 per cent proof ABSOLUT vodka bottle, epoxy resin, epoxy putty 29 x 28 x 16 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Keating Collection

Hiroshi and his Friends are Having a Whale of a Time #3 2007 modern figurine, plastic manga toys, epoxy resin, retouching medium, powder pigments 20 x 32 x 9 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection of Dr Clinton Ng

Doggie Bling 2010 resin dog, Swarovski crystals, epoxy resin 21 x 12 x 12 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Private Collection

Shark Fin Soup #2 2006 altered vintage porcelain figurine, epoxy resin, retouching medium, powder pigment 18 x 15 x 14 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Private Collection

Super 2009 vintage porcelain figurine, retouching medium, powder pigments 35 x 12 x 11 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art

IMAGE ABOVE

Swat 2009

three sets of wooden Matroushka dolls, PVA, timber polyfilla, acrylic paint, epoxy resin 27 x 116 x 17 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Collection: Art Gallery of Ballarat Purchased with funds from the Maude Glover Fleay Bequest, 2009

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Shot 2 2010 vintage oil painting, vintage ceramic flying ducks, epoxy resin, retouching medium, powder pigments 74 x 134 x 10 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art

Penny Byrne

Born Victoria, 1965

1997 Bachelor of Laws (LLB), La Trobe University, Melbourne

1990 Graduate Diploma (Ceramics and Glass Conservation and Restoration) West Dean College, United Kingdom

1987 Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art Ceramics), RMIT, Melbourne

AWARDS AnD PRIZES

2011 NAVA Janet Holmes à Court Artists’ Grant

2010 City of Hobart Art Prize, Hobart TAS, finalist

2009 Stan and Maureen Duke Award, finalist

2008 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, finalist

2008 The Fishers Ghost Art Award, finalist

2007 Ripe, Art & Australia and ANZ Emerging Artists, finalist

2006 Warrnambool Regional Art Gallery New Social Commentaries 06 exhibition, finalist

2005 Linden Postcard Show, postcard winner

2002 Pat Emery Award for Emerging Ceramists, Victorian Ceramic Group Honourable Mention

2001 Pat Emery Award for Emerging Ceramists, Victorian Ceramic Group Honourable Mention

1988 Meat Market Craft Centre Ceramics Studio Residency (12 months)

COLLECTIOnS

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Artbank

Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat

Deakin University Art Collection, Melbourne

Holmesglen Collection of Contemporary Art, Melbourne

Lyon Collection, Melbourne

Mildura Arts Centre Permanent Collection, Mildura

Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle

Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton

Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool

Private collections Australia and overseas

SOLO EXHIBITIOnS

2011 Penny Byrne: Commentariat, Deakin University Art Gallery

2010 ILL-Gotten Gains Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2009 Interesting Times Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2008 Collateral Damage, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2007 Blood, Sweat and Fears, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2006 Penny Byrne, Mantelpiece, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne

GROUP EXHIBITIOnS

2010 Power Chicks and Men Who Sew, Deloitte, Sydney

2010 New Acquisitions, Ballarat Art Gallery, Ballarat

2010 Recent Acquisitions, Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton

2010 Ceramics Now?, Whitehorse Art Space, Melbourne

2010 The Navigators, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne

2010 ARTHK2010, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

2010 Clash: Contemporary Sculptural Ceramics, Newcastle Region Gallery, Newcastle

2010 SSFA10, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2009 Horror – Come Darkness, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney

2009 Copenhagen Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark ADCO:Venue, Copenhagen

2009 The Climate Show, Copenhagen, Denmark

2009 Thing: Beware of the Material World, Art Gallery of Western Australia

2009 White Heat Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney

2009 Salon des Refuses, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney

2009 SSFA09 Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2008 Fishers Ghost Art Award finalist exhibition, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown

2008 Stan and Maureen Duke Award, finalist exhibition, Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast

2008 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, finalist exhibition, Sydney

2008 SSFA08, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2007 Arc Biennial, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane

2007 SSFA07, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2007 Exquisite Palette, St Luke The Colourmen, Melbourne

2006 New Social Commentaries 06, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool

2006 The (Royal) Melbourne Show, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2006 Linden Postcard Show, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne

2005 Sydney Affordable Art Fair, Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney

2005 Linden Postcard Show, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne

2003 Castlemaine State Festival Ceramics Award, Castlemaine

2002 Pat Emery Award for Emerging Ceramists, Victorian Ceramic Group, Montsalvat

2001 Pat Emery Award for Emerging Ceramists, Victorian Ceramic Group, Northcote Pottery Kiln Gallery

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McPhee, John. Penny Byrne: not nice, Catalogue essay, Penny Byrne: Commentariat, Deakin University Art Gallery, 2011

ABC Radio – Ballarat, and www.abc.net.au/ballarat: Radio interview about New Acquisitions Exhibition, 2 September, 2010

Look what we’ve bought, The Courier, Ballarat, 31 August 2010 p14

Flynn, Paul. ‘Profile: Penny Byrne’ Artist Profile, Issue 12 pp. 77–78

ABCTV, Artscape – Penny Byrne, Tuesday 27 April 2010

Ray, Una. Dynamic Ceramics

The Herald, Saturday 20 February 2010

Gibson, P. Exceptional Acquisitions

Australian Art Collector, Issue 51, January–March 2010 pp. 148–151

Cook, Robert. Thing: Beware the Material World, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of Western Australia, pp. 42–43

Duke, Stan and Maureen. Gold Coast Art Prize 2008, Antiques and Art in Queensland, November 2008–March 2009 pp. 11

Israel, Glenis. Art Wise Contemporary 2, John Wiley and Sons Australia Ltd, 2009 pp. 66–72

Oh Brother, The Age, 19 September 2008 pp. 22

O’Riordan, Maurice. ‘Editorial’ and cover image, Art Monthly, August 2008 Issue #212 pp. 3

New Work: Penny Byrne

Art World, August/September 2008 pp. 152–3

Walton, Inga. Vicious Figurines. Penny Byrne’s Ceramic Advocacy, Ceramics Art and Perception International, Issue 72, 2008 pp. 15

Feats of clay, Careers section, City Weekly, Melbourne, 19 June 2008 pp. 21

Mendelssohhn, Joanna. Smart Art: Penny Byrne

Australian Art Collector, Issue 41, July–September 2007 pp. 150

Clement, Tracey. Blood, Sweat and Fears, Artlink, Vol 27 #2, 2007 pp. 93

Rosenberg, Carol. Guantanamo in pop culture, The Miami Herald, 9 September 2007 pp. 1L

Galacho, Olga. Suffer for art but not financially, Herald Sun, 24 May 2007 pp. 67

Organ, Joyce. Beware, these pretty things bite, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 March 2007 pp. 14

2007’s top 100 tips – Art investing, The Weekend Australian, 30–31 December 2006 pp. 29

Sheedy, Chris. Q&A: Love your work, Sunday Life magazine,18 June 06 pp. 10

Lobley, Katrina. Events – The Royal Melbourne Show, Domain, Sydney Morning Herald 13 April 2006 pp. 4

Clement, Tracey. Victoria Bitter, Metro Sydney Morning Herald, April 2–27 2006 pp. 23

PEnnY BYRnE: COMMEnTARIAT

Deakin University Art Gallery

Exhibition dates

Deakin University Art Gallery

16 February to 2 April 2011

Geelong Gallery

23 April to 26 June 2011

Warrnambool Art Gallery

7 February to 1 April 2012

© 2011 the artist, the authors and publisher.

Copyright to the works is retained by the artist and his/her descendants. No part of this publication may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher and the individual copyright holder(s).

The views expressed within are those of the author(s) and artist and do not necessarily represent the views held by Deakin University.

Unless otherwise indicated all images are reproduced courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art and the artist. This project was assisted by a Janet Holmes à Court Artists’ Grant, which is a NAVA initiative. It is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mrs Janet Holmes à Court and through the support of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts.

Penny Byrne is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf

Fine Art, Sydney

Published by Deakin University

ISBN 978-0-9806214-6-4

Edition 1000 copies

Catalogue design: Jasmin Tulk

Deakin University Art Gallery

Deakin University, Melbourne Campus at Burwood

221 Burwood Highway, Burwood Vic 3125

Melways Ref 61 B5

T +61 3 9244 5344

F +61 3 9244 5254

E artgallery@deakin.edu.au www.deakin.edu.au/art-collection

Gallery hours

Tuesday–Friday 10 am–4 pm Saturday 1 pm–5 pm

Free entry

Cover image: Penny Byrne War on Terror Waltz (detail) 2009 porcelain figurines, vintage Action Man accessories, miniature service medal, retouching medium, powder, pigments 26 x 21 x 15 cm

Photographer Jeremy Dillon, The Photography Department

Deakin University Art Collection purchase 2010

Inside cover image: Nicko fiddles while Roma burns (detail) 2006 vintage porcelain figurine, glass beer bottle, coloured glass, epoxy resin, epoxy putty, plastic toy fire extinguisher, retouching medium, powder pigments 31.5 x 31 x 13 cm

Photographer Graham Baring

Courtesy Gould Galleries

Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code 00113B