This was published 9 years ago
Penny Byrne changes medium and scale in riotous new exhibition
By Dylan Rainforth
A media image of a policeman felled by a brick put artist Penny Byrne in a classical frame of mind and set her work on a new trajectory.
Byrne says the 2013 photo of an officer in armour slumped in the gutter during riots in Belfast, recalled the pathos of one of her favourite sculptures, the Dying Gaul.
Penny Byrne's "felled", 2014, cast in bronze, is a contemporary take on the "Dying Gaul".
Byrne is a ceramics conservator who turns her skills to the dark side for art, and is best known for her small-scale works made with recycled porcelain sculptures, which she subverts to political ends.
However, for her new Fehily Contemporary exhibition, Etonnez – moi ("astonish me"), she has changed both medium and scale.
Cast in bronze, felled is Byrne's contemporary take on the Dying Gaul.
In keeping with the exhibition title, Byrne maintained a degree of secrecy up until the opening last week. Even then the audience was kept in the dark, being given torches to find and view the work while being assaulted with video footage of war and rioting.
fehilycontemporary.com.au