My work is an attempt to share what I’ve seen. The birds which inhabit my paintings were all seen and photographed by me. Many years ago when I began to look closely at birds and to try to identify them, I felt a broadening. To be able to observe something and call it by its name is to begin to better understand it, which makes my world feel just a little bit wider.
My paintings are a mix of realism and abstraction, the specific and the ambiguous, assuredness and doubt. Along with painting, my work can include collage as well as block printing. My process is a conversation between all these elements, with much paint applied, scraped off, and reapplied many times over. Eventually, through the layers, an agreement is reached.
My father had a large collection of old Chinese paperbacks that he collected when he was a young man owning and operating a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara, CA. After he died I kept a box of these books, and began collaging pages from them into my paintings. I also collage pages from old college math and physics textbooks that belonged to my mother when she was a student at UC Santa Barbara pursuing a master’s degree in math and a minor in physics.
Born in Santa Barbara, CA, Byron spent the first half of his career as a freelance illustrator. After many years in Chicago, IL,
he returned to California in 2017, and currently lives and works in Burbank, CA
Byron is represented by The Haen Gallery in Asheville, NC
Education
1979-1982
Applied Art and Design, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA
1977-1979
Environmental Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
Selected Solo and Two-person Exhibitions
2019
Byron Gin and Andy Farkas, Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2015
Emergence, Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2013
Aviary, Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2011
Lake Effect: Byron Gin & Heather Hancock, Uncommon Ground, Chicago, IL
Birds of a Feather: Byron Gin and Tisha Weddington, Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2010
Ruth Franklin/Byron Gin: New Work, Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2009
Birds n' Things, Uncommon Ground, Chicago, IL
Natural Habitation: Byron Gin and Clayton Santiago, The Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC
2008
New Paintings, University Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2007
Byron Gin and Michelle Gordon, Uncommon Ground, Chicago, IL
2006
Byron Gin and Len Cowgill, Water Street Gallery, Saugatuck, MI
Selected Group Shows
2019-2021
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2018
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2017
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2014
Painting the Familiar and the Ordinary, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2013
Josie Eastwood Fine Art, Hampshire, UK
Store Street Gallery, London, UK
The Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2012
Enid Lawson Gallery, London, UK
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
The Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC
2011
Enid Lawson Gallery, London, UK
The Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2010
Chromatic, Lark and Key Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
The Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC
2008-2000
Around the Coyote Arts Festival, Chicago, IL
2008
South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2007
Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2005
Saugatuck Talks, Water Street Gallery, Saugatuck, MI
Go Figure, Water Street Gallery, Saugatuck, MI
Portraits '05, Norris Gallery, St. Charles, IL
2004
The White Show, The Gathering Place Gallery, Chicago, IL
Big, Small Town, Up the Stairs Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003
Mighty Midwest Biennial 2, New Visions Gallery, Marshfield, WI
2002
Portraits and Figures, High Risk Gallery, Chicago, IL
2x2x2, Union Street Gallery, Chicago Heights, IL
WCA Midwest Regional, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
Collections
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Chicago, IL
Deloitte Corporation, Chicago, IL
David Markin, Kalamazoo, MI
Publications
"Birds of a Feather: Byron Gin and Tisha Weddington", American Art Collector Magazine, November 2011
Krissoff, Sylvia, "Treatments of Prosaic Anything But Ordinary", Grand Rapids Press, 08/03/06
Artner, Allen G, "10 Things Not to Miss at Coyote", Chicago Tribune, 09/09/05