On one level I’m a nature photographer, but it is not as simple as that. Tree trunks, roots, rocks, and plants are my usual subjects. Natural elements. Natural light. Unnatural composition. Multiple images. My process is guided by curiosity. I’m a visual artist who mixes photographic and painterly concerns.

 

  This series begins with CU photographs of the roots of toppled trees that line the banks of the Mississippi River near my home in  St. Paul.  The roots have been washed and eroded by years of rising/falling water exposing unique textures and colors.  Through a simple process of mirroring and duplication, a photographic image arises with a new identity and presence. Otherworldly organic shapes, primordial forms, and mysterious figures emerge - as if they have always existed in the inner life of these trees, and are now unveiled.  I search for the unforeseen and the unusual.

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 My practice also explores the photograph as an object.  I print large-scale in multiple sizes, on industrial vinyl and loose canvas, treating the substrate not as a passive carrier for an image, but as an active component of the work itself. The works are intentionally unframed and often floated just off the wall allowing for subtle shifts and gentle curves. The photographs assert a physical autonomy much like free hanging textiles.  

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 I continue to explore the banks of the Mississippi River near my home in St. Paul to find toppled trees and exposed root systems to photograph for this ongoing series, Meet Me By the River.   There is always more to discover and share.          

            James Byrne