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~DAVID BYRNE~
~ SACRED OBJECTS: BROKEN KNIFE, 1993~
Photograph of spot-lit object on velvet framed in elaborate gilt frame 

~ 32" x 28" FRAMED~


ARTIST BIO

 
Born 1952 Dumbarton, Scotland. 
Currently lives in New York.

Byrne studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Maryland School of Art, and later co-founded the band Talking Heads. Between 1976 and 1988, this highly influential group redefined notions of what was possible in popular music, setting new standards for lyrical acuity, musical variety and - in promo videos that Byrne himself often directed - visual inventiveness. As the band's lead vocalist and lyricist, Byrne often located a kind of wonder in prosaic reality; Talking Heads' second album was aptly entitled More Songs About Buildings and Food. This interest in the potential and perversity of the everyday has proved to be an enduring one for Byrne.

During his time with the group, Byrne was involved with several other projects. He composed and created an evening-length ballet score for choreographer Twyla Tharp (The Catherine Wheel ); directed many of the first videoclips to appear on MTV; collaborated with Brian Eno on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a record incorporating “found” voices such as radio preachers, talk show guests and Arabic singers, and created a score for brass band and spoken text for a theater piece directed by Robert Wilson (The Knee Plays ).
In 1985 a prize-winning film was made of the Talking Heads in concert entitled Stop Making Sense, directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme. In 1986, Byrne co-wrote and directed a feature film entitled True Stories and in 1987, Byrne won an Academy Award for co-writing the score for Bertolucci‘s epic The Last Emperor.
In 1989, David Byrne collaborated again with Robert Wilson on The Forest, a theater piece, composing an orchestral score with mostly wordless vocals. After releasing a soundtrack of the production, he performed it live with various orchestras. That same year he also directed a documentary on African religion in Brazil entitled Ile Aiye: The House Of Life and recorded Rei Momo, a collaboration with 15 of the best Latin musicians in New York.
Byrne then toured with his group through Europe, Japan, North and South America. This record and tour were followed by one called Uh-Oh (1992) on which funk and Latin grooves were mixed together, and a film was made at the end of tour called Between The Teeth. Two more records followed: the self-titled David Byrne (1994) and Feelings (1997); 1998 saw the release of The Visible Man, a record of remixed versions of songs from Feelings, in 2001 Look into the Eyeball was released.

Byrne’s record label Luaka Bop, which was founded in 1988, has evolved from a label specializing in “world music” compilations to one with emerging acts such as Cornershop, Geggy Tah, Susana Baca, Zapmama and a host of Alternalatino bands such as Bloque, Los Amigos Invisibles and King Chango.

David Byrne has been involved in photography and design since his college days, but has only recently begun to exhibit his work and include his photos in books and magazines. Like his film and musical projects, his photography is often described as elevating the mundane or the banal to the level of art. In some ways he creates icons out of everyday materials and finds the sacred in the profane. Some of the photos might be considered “documentary”, though they are not really about a specific place or time. Rather, they are about the choice of the things, or lack of things, that is photographed. In particular, the lack of people stands out in his work. On this aspect of photography the writer/critic Wright Morris describes the sensation this condition creates: “Only in their absence will the observer intuit, in full measure, their presence in the object.” In a sense, Byrne’s photographs are about interiors, both physical and emotional, as much as exteriors. As a body of work, his photography deals with what lies behind the eyes as much as what is in front of them.

Byrne shoots about half of the work on his travels in various parts of the world such as Mexico, Morocco and Texas. The other half were composed in his studio, using a variety of photographic media, including polaroids, Cibachromes, Cibatransparencies and digital processes. Recent museum shows in Germany, Italy and Japan have mixed these pieces with audio elements, acoustic guides and sculptural elements.

Writing in his book of photographs Strange Ritual in 1995, Byrne noted that 'the sublime is in the banal'. Byrne has been exhibiting his photographs since 1990. His fascination with the vitality of other cultures, long a feature of his music, was strikingly evident in Strange Ritual. Interspersed with text in a notebook-like format, these highly colorful photographs, mostly taken in cities while Byrnewas on tour, fluently constructed an artificial forest of signs - vending machines, window displays, Indian film posters, gaudy logos, the warp and weft of global street life - and fell tantalizingly between the poles of reportage travel photography and formally ordered compositions. Through the 90s, while releasing solo albums and heading the acclaimed record label Luaka Bop, Byrne worked on various visual art projects, including public artworks, photographs revealing the homogenized architecture of public environments, and, in 1998, the Super-Ego series of lightbox photographs of plastic dolls, apparently modeled on the Barbie 'Ken' dolls but sporting the physiognomy of Byrne himself. He also worked to reshape the protocol of visual art exhibitions by pairing images with soundtracks on acoustiguides. The viewer is then engulfed in a tidal wave of unsettling information, filled with deliberate internal contradistinctions. 

In 1998 Byrne published Your Action World (produced by the Italian gallery LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea), a book that, like the discrete artworks he was producing at the same time, showcased his interest in rerouting the subliminal effects of corporate America's pervasive aesthetics. Packaged by celebrated designer Steven Sagmeister, this volume was a collation of punchy and subversive images and texts using the tropes of motivational literature and advertising campaigns. This work reveled in re-siting the sophisticated graphic qualities of corporate visuals so that they could be viewed through a more reflective prismatic. But this work also gave the corporate material an illogical spin, throwing into doubt the value of (what had seemed) direct modes of communication. 
Such work constitutes a response to a world of ubiquitous branding and marketing where, as Byrneputs it, 'every aspect of our lives has logos and labels attached'. He uses the language of big business - which is increasingly hardwired into the common consciousness and progressively blurring the line between inspirational philosophy, lifestyle and consumption - in order to discuss it. His approach takes numerous forms. 

Through such 'culture jamming' Byrne reveals himself as an astute curator and delicate usurper of the absurd and troubling aspects of the contemporary corporate world. Rather than reacting abrasively against this culture, Byrne subtly tweaks the existing aesthetics: poisoning their messages to ensure a critical hesitancy whenever we encounter them in the future. He gives the corporate environment its uncanny strangeness back. 

His first book of photographs, Strange Ritual, was published in 1995 and was chosen by the N. Y. Times Book Review as one of the top 10 photography book of the Christmas season. The second one,Your Action World (Gotham, Italy, 1998), produced by LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea (Trieste, Italy), was modeled after corporate reports and inspirational and motivational literature. His last book titled The New Sins - Los Nuevos Pecados (2001) had been produced on the occasion of the 1st Valencia Biennial. It is a book updating the Bible's sins for a more contemporary audience. Byrnedisscusses sin in general, and elucidates the new sins among them hope, beauty and sense of humor.

Byrne’s most recent projects are JULIO THE UNCANNY and Playing the Building. 

Voice of Julio (2008) is an art project by him and David Hanson (creator of “conversational character robots”) shown at the Machines and Souls exhibition in Madrid. Julio is made of electrons and rubber, but sings with Byrne’s voice, and his face is programmed to mimic the gestures and expressions of a vocalist. In his project description, Julio the UncannyByrne writes: "Knowing that singing elicits an emotional reaction from a listener and observer, I sense that encountering Julio might push some very odd buttons… We think of seeing and looking as something optical, something the eyes do. But actually seeing something, and recognizing it, is a lot more than that — it is the act of naming the thing the eyes are locking on to. It involves other meta brain functions that often have nothing to do with optics or the muscles controlling the eye. If seeing were just the visual and eye-muscle behavior, then isn’t that the same as what Jules does? And then isn’t singing, and displaying the attendant emotions, the same as what Julio does?
We tend to think that our emotions live inside — in our hearts and minds…I think it’s more complicated and more confusing than that."

Playing the Building (2005/2008), a sound installation in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument. Devices are attached to the building structure — to the metal beams and pillars, the heating pipes, the water pipes — and are used to make these things produce sound. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices do not produce sound themselves, but they cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument.

Sacred Objects

Photos of spot-lit objects on velvet, framed in elaborate gilt frames. Some of these objects are real sacred objects, from Africa, Brazil or elsewhere, while other are common objects and tools nominated as sacred by me. Inspired by both religious shrines and shop windows.

Sacred Objects / Sleepless Nights

 

"The Sacred and the Mundane" 
By Beatrice Colin, Stills Edinburgh

‘I always took lots of photos on tour,’ says David Byrne. ‘Hotel rooms—that’s where I end up.’ Down the line from New York, he pauses. ‘I had no idea why I was taking them.’ In his exhibition, entitled Sacred Objects, Sleepless Nights there are a number of pictures of hotel rooms. Details of pristine bathrooms, hallways, various light fittings and towel rails are individually framed and hung in groups. They’re both mundane and profound, celebrating the instantly forgettable. ‘You go into a hotel room and you end up staring at these things,’ he explains. ‘They have a kind of aura, a kind of dumbness and stupidity at the same time. It’s like you’re trying to achieve something really stupid. That’s what it feels like.’

But although Byrne adopts the small-boy-in-a-big-town persona, he’s no space cadet. While frontman of Talking Heads he bunked off mandatory on-tour drink and drug sessions to visit art galleries and museums, he has also directed numerous videos, has won awards for his film scores, is regularly asked to write catalogue notes for photography exhibitions and has even gazed, wide-eyed, from the cover of Time magazine.

Photography, rather than the ‘mindless activity’, he claims his work began as, was something he studied at Rhode Island Art College. Here, he began experimenting with photographs when he found a pile of negatives in a neighbor’s attic, and now he has re-printed old negatives to hang beside new work and has put together enough material for Stills to compile his first retrospective. ‘It’s like writing songs,’ he points our. ‘You collect a lot of ideas and they pile up somewhere and then at some point you come back to them and you realize that there’s something there and you can make something out of it.’

The show ranges from early efforts to record his immediate surroundings to sophisticated photographic studies executed in studios and framed in gilt, but although the presentation changes, the subjects remain the same. Byrne is drawn to objects like a tooth, a book, an armchair and a bowl full of feathers which are consequently invested with character and drama. ‘Broken knife (1993)’ captures the piece of cutlery on red velvet like some sort of tragic hero. The knife looks both shiny and forlorn. ‘Easy Chair (1979)’ a brown checked dragoon armchair is staged in four different positions as if in the middle of some crazy dance. ‘If the armchair was human, it would be drunk and putting on a performance,’ he laughs. ‘Do I invest inanimate objects with some of my personality? Probably, that could be.’

But is the work any good or is it just the photographic doodles of a very famous person? In common with the scribbles of John Lennon, the paintings of Joni Mitchell and Keith Richards, the persona behind the camera tends to overshadow any real critical judgment. His double-exposure of two almost identical bungalows called ‘Warnings between Osaka and Kyoto (1989)’ is just a cute observation.

‘I really liked the way those houses looked,’ he says. ‘I’d taken lots and lots of photographs of them and a lot of the bungalows are almost identical but not quite. And I wondered what would happen if I sandwiched the transparencies together. Only the differences stick out, like whether there’s a carport in one or one has overhanging eaves.

[…] recent work is often lit like glossy advertisements but he claims that’s only part of the picture. ‘I care a little bit about technicalities but I’m not that fastidious about it,’ he says. ‘I’m not the type of art photographer that loves the beauty of the print and holds the print as beautiful object. I think most of this reflects the fact that I’ve chosen to photographs particular things, and not that it’s an absolutely amazing photograph about this particular thing.’

How much do his ideas overlap? ‘I think in specific mediums, not that they couldn’t go another way,’ he says. ‘I don’t have preconceived ideas from the start about how things are going to end up. But somewhere along the line I arrive at a point where it’s very clear how it should end up.’

This is an eccentric show, one which is stamped and sealed with a particular personality. However it’s interesting to look at the work in a wider context in which Byrne documents the man-made and searches in the corners of his habitat for enlightenment. Is his work a reflection of contemporary America? ‘I suppose so. They show a kind of a spiritual striving, a confusion, or an aimlessness. Or something.’

Byrne pauses and the silence echoes a million sleepless nights spent staring at the outline of the light switch.

 

I. Art Exhibitions & Public Installations

 
= Installation photos

2010
Public
• Moral Dilemmas and Inside OutReykjavík Arts Festival, Reykjavík, Iceland, May 2010

Solo
• David Byrne Art Exhibition 関連特別イベント, VACANT by NO IDEA, Tokyo, Japan, 11–26 December
• ArboretumElectric Works Project Space, San Francisco, CA, July 16 – August 21 [with Dave Eggers drawings]

2009
Group
• Economy of ScaleHemphill, Washington, DC, November 7 – December 23, 2009

Public
• Playing the BuildingRoundhouse, London, UK, 8–31 August

2008
Group 
• Voice of Julio / Vox de Julio in Máquinas y Almas. Arte Digital (Machines and Souls. Digital Art)Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain, June 26 – October 13 (with David Hanson) 
• It's Not Only Rock and Roll, Baby, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, June 19 – September 5 
• SUPERMODELS II: Real vs Unreal, LIPANJEPUNTIN Contemporary Art, Rome, December 13, 2007– January 24, 2008

Public
• Playing the Building presented by Creative Time, Battery Maritime Building, New York, NY, May 31 – August 24
• Bike Racks installed on NYC streets, in collaboration with the NYC Department of Transportation and PaceWildenstein Gallery

2007
Solo
• Furnishing the Self — Upholstering the Soul [Chairs], Hemphilll Fine Arts, Washington DC, November 3 – December 22 

Group 
• Deaf 2: From the Audible to the Visible, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France, September 8 – October 13, 2007
• Notes on Utopia, Maya Stendhal Gallery, New York, NY, March 1 – April 28

2006
Solo
• Furnishing the Self — Upholstering the Soul [Chairs], Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, October 19 – November 25  

2005
Solo
• Playing the Buildingaudio installation, Färgfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden, October 8 – November 13 

Group
• Destination Works at PULSE/Miami, Miami, FLA, December 1 – 4 [Voting Booth Project]

Public 
• The New Sins, lightbox installation, CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada, May 1 – 31  

2004
Solo 
 Trees, Tombstones and Bullet Points, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, October 2, 2004 – February 6, 2005

Group

 The Voting Booth Project, Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, October 8 – December 5 
• Shhh! Sounds In Spaces, audio installation, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, May 20 – August 30

• Tactical Action, Gigantic ArtSpace, New York, NY, April 14 – June 10 [Corporate Signs]

2003
Solo

• What is It?,  Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC,
July 19 – September 26  
• David Byrne, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, March 6 – April 26  

Group

• Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA, July 2–25, 2003; Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, October 3 – November 2, 2003; Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL, February 2 – April 2, 2006; Pacific Northwest College of Art Feldman Gallery + Project Space, Portland, OR, August 28 – October 21, 2006 [Corporate Signs]

Public

• The End of ReasonPowerPoint installation, Condé Nast building lobbies, 4 Times Square, New York, NY, September 10 – 17 

2002
Solo

• Elective Affinities: A Trade Show DemonstrationTrack 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, September 14 – October 19 [Individual works]  

Group

• Art Basel Miami Beach, December 5-8
• Tokyo Art Jungle, Tokyo International Forum, August 13–15 [PowerPoint

Public

• "I Love This Crowd!", Sonic Garden, audio installation, World Financial Center, New York, NY, October 17 – November 30 (with Creative Time
• What is It?, Yamamoto subway installation, Tokyo Art Jungle Train, Tokyo, Japan, August 2–15  
• Everything is Connected, 215' billboard installation, Saks 5th Ave Project Art, New York, NY, May 29 – July 7  
• The New Sins, lightbox installation, Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia, January 5–26  

2001
Solo

• Indices: New and Ongoing Work by David ByrneMaryland Institute College of Art, Decker Gallery, Baltimore, MD, November 9 - December 16  

Public

• The New Sins, public book distribution, Cuerpo & Pecado, Valencia Biennial, Valencia, Spain, June-October

2000
Solo

• The Wedding Party (with Adelle Lutz), LipanjePuntin Artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italy, November 24-February 1, 2001

Group

• SupermodelLipanjePuntin Arctconetmporanea, Treste, Italy, June 17-September 15    
• Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, January 29-April 2

1999
Solo

• Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, June 25-August 20  
• Better Living Through Chemistry, Lloyd Jerome Gallery, Glasglow, Scotland, May 8-July 1
• Your Action World, Marino alla Scala Art Center, Milan, Italy, April 13-May 31  

Group
• Still <in> MotionLipanjePuntin Artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italy, October 2-November 30
• The Before Pictures, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, September 14-December 1

1998
Solo 
• Sleepless Nights, Strange Ritual, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland, November 12-December 12  
• Fe, Centro Fotografico Alvarez Bravo, Oaxaca, Mexico, October 30 - January 10  
• Summa Scientae MundiLipanjePuntin Artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italy, October 16 - December 15
• Your Action World, Civico Museo Revoltella, Trieste, Italy, October 3 - November 2  
• Glory! Sucess!  Ecstasy!, Aktionforum Praterinsel, Munich, Germany, September 26 - November 15  
• SuperegoLipanjePuntin Artecontemporanea, First Gramercy International, Gramercy Hotel, New York, NY, May 8 - 11

Group
• Warehouse: A Concept for Collecting, Exit Art/The First World, New York, NY, May 9
• New York Color School, Valerie's Gallery, New York, NY,  May 2 - July 4
 Welcome Tokion, George’s Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, March 17 - April 1

Public
• Under/Exposed, Subway Installation, Stokholm, Sweden, December 21 - January 3, 1999 
• Better Living Through Chemistry, Billboard Project, A Belfast Festival at Queens and Ormeau • Baths Gallery Project, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov. 12-29  

1997
Solo

• Stairway to Heaven, Art Futura, Madrid, Spain, Oct. 14-19
• Strange Ritual, La Foret Museum, Tokyo, Japan, April 22 - May 12  
 Desire, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX, March 7 - April 27  
 ActionLoveGods!, Photographs Do Not Bend, Dallas, TX, March 7 - April 19

Group
 5 & 10: Art For Change, Tampa, FL, July 11 - 20
 Just What Do You Think You’re Doing, Dave?, Williamsburg Art and Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY, June 21 - July 26
 Rio Grande Project: A River Thirsting For Itself, Santa Fe, NM, June 20-Aug. 16
 Icon, SF MOMA, San Francisco, CA, April 18-Sept. 16

Public
 Desire, Public Toilet Installation, San Francisco, CA, Jan. 9-22  
 Kiosk & Guide, Flatiron Building, New York, NY, Sept. 8-15  

1996    
Solo
 Anima Mundi, Camerawork, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 12, 1996 - Feb. 1, 1997
 Stairway to HeavenPhyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL, Dec. 6, 1996 - Jan. 6, 1997
• Strange Ritual, Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, TX, Oct. 31 - Nov. 30
 Strange Ritual, Il Ponte Gallery, Rome, Italy, Sept. 20 - Oct. 19
• Strange Ritual, Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada, Sept. 6 - Oct. 5  
• Desire, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, Jul. 26 - Oct. 20  
• Strange Ritual, Mylos Gallery, Thessoloniki, Greece, June 20 - July 14  
 Strange Ritual, Galerie Ressle/Konsthandel, Stockholm, Sweden, Mar. 20 - Apr. 21
• Strange Ritual, Gallery Anonimus, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Jan. 20 - Feb. 20
• David Byrne: Strange Ritual, Photographers' Gallery, London, UK, Jan. 19 - Mar. 9

Group
• Luminous Image, The Alternative Museum, New York, NY, Nov. 16 - Jan. 18, 1997
• Blind Spot: The First Four Years, Baldacci Gallery, New York, NY, Oct. 1-26
• Nash's Greatest Hits,Photographers' Gallery, London, UK, Sept. 5 - Oct. 18
• Inspire Courage, Alice Rubbini Gallery, Bologna, Italy, July 13 - Sept. 1
• SweatExit Art, New York, NY, June 15 - July 20.

Public 
• Better Living Through Chemistry, Billboard Installation, A Space 25th-Anniversary, A Space, Toronto, Canada, Sept. 4-29  

1995    
Solo
• Evidence of Human Habitation, Carousel Exhibition Space, Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 5-18
• David Byrne: Photographs, Books & Books, Coral  Gables, FL, Dec. 1, '95 - Jan. 3, '96
• Strange Ritual, Cristinerose Gallery, New York, NY, Oct. 21 - Nov. 22
• Strange Ritual, Chassie Post Gallery, Atlanta, GA Oct. 17 - Nov. 25
 Sacred Objects, Sleepless Nights, Loja da Atalaia, Lisbon, June 20 - July 1   
• Strange Ritual, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago,  IL, June 2-28  
• Evidence of Human Habitation, CEFFT, Zagreb, Apr. 10 - May 7  
• Sacred Objects, Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan,  Mar. 30 - Apr. 25. Traveled to: Kiyumisu-dera Temple, Kyoto and Parco Gallery, Osaka, Japan
• Sleepless Nights, Galerie Arndt & Partner, Berlin, Germany, Feb. 11 - Apr. 9  
• Evidence of Human Habitation, Photo Center, Moscow,  Russia, Feb. 9 - Mar. 2  

Group
• The Colour Red, ACC Rheinhallen, Agrippinawerft, Cologne, Germany Nov. 3–15 (traveled in Germany until end of 1997)
• Blind Spot Exhibition, 214 Lafayette Street, New York, NY, Oct. 6–8
• Metamorphoses: Photography in the Electronic Age, FIT, New York, NY. Traveled to: Blaffer Gallery, Univ. of Houston, Texas, June 9-July 30, 1995; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, Feb. 25-Apr. 21, 1996; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, June 22 – Aug. 18, 1996; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, Sept. – Oct., 1996.
• An Exhibition of Photographs to Benefit Tibet House NY, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
• Blind Spot, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX

1994
Solo
• Sacred Objects, Sleepless Nights, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 15 – Sept. 10  
• David Byrne - En la Pared, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, July 20 – Aug. 9  
• Photo Works, Stelling Gallery, Leiden, Holland, Apr. 29 – May 29  
• Faith, CBGB's 313 Gallery, New York, NY, Jan. 13 – Feb. 26  
• Photo Works, Galerie Transit, Leuven, Belgium, Jan. 15 – Feb. 27

Group
• Summer Salon (Pictures We Like), Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY, July 8 – Aug. 26
• Shot in El Paso, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX, July 14 – Sept. 17

1993  
Group    
• Dirty Birds, Wooster Gardens, New York, NY, July 1 – 31

1992  
Group     
• Our Town, Burden Gallery, New York, NY, Sept. 9 - Dec. 19

1991  
Group   
• Beyond Japan: A Photo Theatre, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK,  July 11 - Sept. 22

1990  
Group    
• Reproduced Authentic, Galerie Via Eight, Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 3-16


II. Books

• Bicycle Diaries, Viking/Penguin, 2009 
• ArboretumMcSweeney's, San Francisco, CA, 2006
• Envisioning Emotional Epistemological InformationSteidl / Pace/MacGill, Göttingen, Germany, 2003
• David Byrne Asks You: What Is It?Smart Art Press Pinspot #13, 2002
• The New Sins / Los Nuevos Pecados, (English/Spanish), McSweeney's (U.S.) / Faber & Faber (UK/Europe), 2001; Bulgarian Edition: Prima, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2003; Paperback edition [English/Spanish, with added Sin]: McSweeney's, 2006
• Your Action WorldChronicle Books, Edimar, Milan, Italy, 1998; San Francisco, CA, 1999
• Strange RitualChronicle Books, San Francisco, CA, 1995
• True Stories, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 1986

[—>BUY books]

III. Lectures / Presentations

2010
• "Creation in Reverse", TED, Long Beach, CA, February 11
• "Creation in Reverse", Stories in High Fidelity, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, February 3
• "Creation in Reverse", The Bell House, Brooklyn NY, January 11

2009
• "Creation in Reverse", Open City Dialogue, Pete's Candy Store, Brooklyn NY, November 30

2007
• "Connections between Biology and Culture, Sex and Beauty, Genes and Creativity" with Geoffrey Miller, ICA Boston, October 10 
• "Resonating Frequencies", Center for Architecture, New York, NY, February 23

2006
• "I [heart] PowerPoint", Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts, Artists' Week, Adelaide, Australia, March 5

2005    
• "Evil Art and Good Advertising", CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival, May 1
• "I [heart] PowerPoint":

• Marshall McLuhan Lecture, NYU, New York, NY, March 2
• Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA, March 3
• Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, March 4
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA, March 6
• UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, March 7
• UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, March 8
• Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, March 9
• UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, March 10
• Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, March 12

2004    
• "I [heart] PowerPoint", George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, October 1

2003

• "I [heart] PowerPoint", (a WIRED icons event), LACMA Institute for Art and Cultures, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, December 4
• "Evil Art and Good Advertising", Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, September 24
• "Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information", (a WIRED icons event with Lawrence Weschler), 92nd St. Y, New York, NY, September 15

2002    
• "Evil Art and Good Advertising", Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, November 7
• "Evil Art and Good Advertising", Whitechapel Gallery, London, October 9
• "David Byrne talks with Bill Buford", New Yorker Festival, New York, NY, Knitting Factory, September 28
• "Evil Art and Good Advertising", Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, September 15
• "City Arts and Lectures", (with Dave Eggers), San Francisco, CA, April 8
• "Public Art and Advertising", Stern School of Business, New York University, April 1
• "Public Art and Advertising", Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, Jaunary 17

2001    
• "The New Sins", PowerPoint presentation / reading tour with McSweeney's:

• Crossing Borders festival, Amsterdam, Holland, October 26
• Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York, NY, September 24 
• Square Books, Oxford, MS, August 21 
• Book People, Austin, TX, August 13 
• Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, August 5 
• Cell Space, San Francisco, CA, July 29

2000 
• "America: Cult and Culture", American Institute of Graphic Arts, Eighth Biennial National Design Conference, Las Vegas, NV, September 29-October 2

1999
• "Text and Image: Text as Image, Image as Text", National Graduate Seminar, American Photography Institute, New York University, NYC, June 7
• "Text and Image: Text as Image, Image as Text", School of Visual Arts, NYC, Dec 4


IV. Art Bibliography: Selected Press, Essays & Interviews


2010
• Radio interview, Víðsjá (Radio 1) with Guðni Tómasson, 12 May 2010, Icelandic/English [18 MB MP3, 18:54] [Moral DilemmasInside Out]
• Bannað að tala um Talking Heads, Morgunblaðið, 16 May 2010 [Moral DilemmasInside Out]
• Kastljós (The Spotlight) - TV interiew, RÚV (Icelandic National Broadcasting Service), 12 May 2010 [Moral DilemmasInside Out]

2008
• "David Byrne"Art Papers, 12.08 [Playing the Building
• "David Byrne Does Bike Racks, Too", Stereogum, 8.20.08 [Bike Racks
• "NY Hosts 9 bicycle racks designed by David Byrne", AP, 8.20.08 [Bike Racks
• "Bloomberg Plays the Building", Gothamist, 15 August 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "David Byrne, Cultural Omnivore, Raises Cycling Back to an Art Form"The New York Times, 8 August 2008 [Bike Racks
• "Biking with David Byrne"The Wall Street Journal, 18 July 2008 [Bike Racks
• "Abandon Normal Instruments"The Guardian (UK), 23 June 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "Playing Walls of Sound"Chicago Tribune, 23 June 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "El robot de David Byrne"El País, 20 June 2008 [Voice of Julio / Voz de Julio]
• "The Pipes, the Pipes Are Calling"The Wall Street Journal, 17 June 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "David Byrne: Playing the Building", BoingBoing TV, 10 June 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "David Byrne Plays the Building", WNYC, 4 June 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "David Byrne's art organ rocks New York building", Reuters, 3 June 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "David Byrne: Sonic Architect"The Village Voice, 3 June 2008 [Playing the Building
• "My Building Has Every Convenience"New York Magazine, June 1, 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "David Byrne's New Band, With Architectural Solos"The New York Times, May 30, 2008 [Playing the Building
• "This Building is Sound"Time Out New York, May 29, 2008 [Playing the Building
• "A Building for a Song"Newsweek, May 23, 2008 [Playing the Building]
• "Art for All", DAMnº16, April/May 2008 [1.4MB PDF] [Public art & Playing the Building]

2007
• Paper, May 2007 [Chairs]

2006
• "End Product: The Book I Drew"Print, November–December 2006 [Arboretum]
• "In the Modern World"Dwell, November 2006 [Arboretum]
• "Why Chairs?", DB, October 2006 [Chairs]
• Studio 360, September 15, 2006 [Arboretum]
• "David Byrne – Arboretum"Paste, September 2006 [Arboretum]
• "Imelda, Fatboy, a cabaret and me", The Sydney Morning Herald, February 22, 2006 [EEEI

2005
• "Why?", DB, 2005 [Arboretum]
• "Artiste of the Week"Entertainment Weekly, October 28, 2005 [Playing the Building
• "David Byrne Plays a Factory, Teams With Fatboy Slim", Pitchfork, November 7, 2005 [Playing the Building
• "Former 'Talking Head' turns factory into instrument", Reuters, October 10, 2005 [Playing the Building
• "Byrning Bright on Queen", Toronto The Globe and Mail, May 17, 2005 [The New Sins
• "PowerPoint Pathos"Financial Times, May 15, 2005 [EEEI
• "At once artist and huckster: David Byrne's New Sins conquer Queen St."Toronto Star, April 30, 2005 [The New Sins
• "Using PowerPoint Analyzed by Artist"New University Paper, UC Irvine, March 30, 2005 [EEEI
• "The Art of PowerPoint"The Toronto Star, March 13, 2005 [EEEI
• "David Byrne Explores the Artistic Possibilities of PowerPoint in Berkeley Lecture"San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2005 [EEEI
• "No Backing Band, Just David Byrne and PowerPoint", Seattle Times, March 8, 2005 [EEEI
• "David Byrne Really Does [heart] PowerPoint, Berkeley Presentation Shows"UC Berkeley News, March 8, 2005 [EEEI
• "With the Lights Out, Henry Art Gallery", Seattle Weekly, March 8, 2005 [EEEI
• "David Byrne Apparently Loves PowerPoint", OC Weekly, March 4, 2005 [EEEI
• "Byrne, Baby, Byrne"LA Weekly, March 4, 2005 [EEEI
• "Business as Poetry, David Byrne's PowerPoint Art"The Stranger, March 3, 2005 [EEEI
• "David Byrne Makes his Point", The Oregonian, March 2, 2005 [EEEI
• "Vulture Culture, David Byrne Ponders the Popularity of PowerPoint"Creative Loafing, February 23, 2005 [EEEI]

2004
• "Interview: Bruce Mau and David Byrne"Contemporary magazine, Issue #69, 2004 [Design] 
• "ART Tools of Democracy"Newsweek, October 18, 2004 [The Voting Booth Project
• "Designers Redefine the Political Machine"The New York Times, October 7, 2004 [The Voting Booth Project
• Shhh! Q&A, 2004 [Shhh!]
• "Sound Suggestion"The New Statesman, July 19, 2004 [Shhh!]
• "Art: Spice It Up With Sound"Newsweek [Atlantic Edition], June 28, 2004 [Shhh!]
• "A long way to go on the sound track"Daily Telegraph, London, May 20, 2004 [Shhh!]
• "David Byrne and the talking toilet"Guardian Unlimited, London, May 19, 2004 [Shhh!]
• "Musical Mystery Tour"Independent, London, May 11, 2004 [Shhh!]
• "Musician Uses Business Program for Ironic Avant-Garde Art", NPR “Day to Day”, January 14, 2004 (audio interview and text) [EEEI

2003
• "Good Company: Reimagining Corporate America"ReadyMade, Fall 2003 (PDF: 320KB) [Corporate Signs
• "Does PowerPoint make us stupid?", CNN (Associated Press), December 30, 2003 [EEEI
• "The Epistemology of David Byrne"Newsweek Entertainment, December 13, 2003 [EEEI
• "Turning Heads with PowerPoint"Wired News, December 9, 2003 [EEEI
• "PowerPoint, Art: With the Program"Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2003 [EEEI
• "Still Making Sense"The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, Australia, October 1, 2003 [EEEI
• "Learning to Love PowerPoint"Wired, September 2003 [EEEI]
• "Wild, Wild Life", Financial Times, September 10, 2003 [EEEI]
• "David Byrne's Alternate PowerPoint Universe", The New York Times, August 17, 2003 [EEEI
• "Verwandlungskünstler"Page magazine, August 2003 (German) [Design, various projects] 
• "A One Man Multi-Media Company"The Art Newspaper, April 2003 [EEEICorporate SignsTree Drawings]

2002
• "On the Record"Magnet, December/January 2002 [The New Sins]
• "You May Ask Yourself: What Is This Unusual Show?"Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2002 [Individual Pictures
• "It's Like a Thing of Everything...", Danielle Spencer, June 2002 [Everything is Connected
• "The Good Book"Print magazine, March/April 2002 [The New Sins
• "David Byrne: Getting the I Out of Design"dot dot dot Nº 4, Winter 2001/2002 [Design,The New Sins

2001
• "Byrne, Baby, Byrne'"A&E, 2001 [The New Sins]
• "The New Testament"The Guardian (UK), November 2001 [The New Sins
• "The New Sins by David Byrne"Scotland on Sunday, November 25, 2001 [The New Sins]
• "The New Sins: Good Book for Bad Advice"The Scotsman, November 24, 2001 [The New Sins]
• "The Big Country: Head Talking Head Starts Making Sense"Baltimore City Paper, November 21, 2001 [Individual Pictures
• Interview with Caitlin Dover, November 2001 [The New Sins]
• "Shame on You..."Resonance, Issue 31, 2001 [The New Sins]
• "Unclassifiable Book"Eye magazine, No. 43 Vol. 11, 2001 [The New Sins]
• "Byrne Confronts 'New Sins'"Capital Times, September 7, 2001 [The New Sins]
• "L.A. AT LARGE: Original Thoughts on Sin: Pop's arty David Byrne slips slyly into the role of moral philosopher", L.A. Times, August 7, 2001 [The New Sins
• Notes from the McSweeney's Representative, Dave Eggers, Summer 2001 [The New Sins]
• "Gesture, Posture and Bad Attitude in Contemporary News Photography: Apex Art ", The New York Art World, Summer 2001 
• "Why I Had To Make This Book", (DB Essay), June 2001 [The New Sins

2000
• "And The Winner Is... The Middle-Aged White Guy"Print magazine, November/December, 2000 [Political Flesh]
• "Dept. of Talking Heads: The Man Behind the Masks"The New Yorker, November 13, 2000 [Political Flesh]
• "Working with Stefan Sagmeister", (DB Essay), 2000 [Your Action World
• "David Byrne Profile"Speak, Winter 1999/2000 [Your Action World
• "David Byrne Talking Back"Rain Taxi, Winter 1999/2000 [Strange RitualYour Action World

1999
• "Corporate Mergers"Surface, 1999 [Your Action World
• "David Byrne: Not Brought to You By… "Mother Jones, November/December 1999 [Your Action World
• "String Theory"Wired, October 1999 [Strange Ritual

1998
• "Dressed Objects / Wedding Party: How and Why", (DB essay), 1998 [Dressed Objects
• "Byrne Outside: Talking with David Byrne", Public Art Review, Spring/Summer 1998 [Better Living Through Chemistry, Stairway to Heaven, Public art installations] 

1997
• "Talking Pictures", San Francisco Bay Guardian, January 8, 1997 [Strange RitualStairway to Heaven

1996
• "Artist Exhibits Prints from Book"El Paso Herald-Post, October 30, 1996 [Strange Ritual
• "Stairway to Heaven & Better Living Through Chemistry", (DB essay), September 1996 [Better Living Through Chemistry, Stairway to Heaven, Public art installations]
• "Still Making Sense"American Way, February 15, 1996 [Strange Ritual]

1995
• "David Byrne Photo Book: Visual Chaos", Denver Post, October 16, 1995 [Strange Ritual]
• "Byrne Marks"Eye, October 12, 1995 [Strange Ritual

1994
• "Some Bookish Questions for David Byrne"Creative Camera, June 1994 [Strange Ritual,Summa Scientae Mundi]
• "The Sacred and the Mundane", Stills Edinburgh, 1994 [Sleepless NightsSacred Objects]

 



FROM THE COLLECTION OF RALPH SALL 

  
You are viewing items from the private music collection of Ralph Sall, a highly successful record producer who has recorded with musicians of almost every genre. Ralph has produced tracks with such renowned artists as Paul McCartney, Stone Temple Pilots, Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, Aerosmith, Creed, Jane’s Addiction, Cheap Trick, Sublime, Jewel, Ramones and Cat Stevens. He  has also produced and written tracks for Mystikal, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Juvenile, R. Kelly and Brian McKnight. He has also worked with country superstars Sugarland, Willie Nelson, Brooks & Dunn, Travis Tritt and Trace Adkins. An accomplished songwriter, Ralph has written tracks for such diverse artists as Jewel, Sugar Ray, George Clinton and Liz Phair. Ralph has also written and produced songs for films such as Clueless (which included the smash hit ‘Rollin’ With My Homies’, co-written with Coolio) and the Scooby Doo track ‘Words To Me’, co-written with Sugar Ray.

On the recorded music front, the tribute album is a genre Ralph virtually invented with ‘Deadicated’, an album featuring the songs of the Grateful Dead which he produced. He went on to create the triple-platinum selling ‘Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles’, ‘Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors’, and the Gold-certified ‘Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits’.



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