I’m a St. Paul based visual artist who mixes photographic and painterly concerns through photo collage.  On one level I'm a nature photographer, but it's not as simple as that.  Tree trunks, roots, rocks, and plants.  Natural elements.  Natural light.  Unnatural composition.  Multiple images.  My process is guided by curiosity.

 

 I begin with photographs of the roots of toppled trees that line the banks of the Mississippi River near my home.   The roots have been washed and eroded by years of rising/falling water exposing wonderfully rich textures and colors.  Through a simple process of mirroring and multiplication new images emerge.

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 Patterns, weaves, otherworldly organic shapes, and primordial forms are revealed - as if they have always existed in the inner life of these trees, and are now unveiled.  There is an ancient, yet recognizable quality to them. They look like roots, of course, but they have blossomed into something deeper and timeless.

                                                                                                                                                                                 James Byrne