Theresa Byrnes BIOGRAPHY

MY 40-YEAR, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY CAREER AS A PAINTER, PERFORMANCE ARTIST, WRITER, AND ACTIVIST IS LED BY THE ACTION OF PAINTING. I DEMYSTIFY FREEDOM, HARNESSING IT IN ITS PUREST STATE, IN THE MISTAKE; ENTERING IT (THE MISTAKE) BRINGS ME TO NEW WAYS OF SEEING. BORN 1969 IN AUSTRALIA AND MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY IN 2000. IN 1989 (AT 20), I WAS ACCEPTED INTO AN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY, YIRRKALA IN REMOTE ARNHEM LAND, AUSTRALIA. MY PAINTING AND PERFORMANCE WORK EXPLORES OUR HUMAN RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE, THE MACROCOSM, AND THE MICROCOSM OF LIFE FROM CONCEPTION TO DECAY. IN 2016, I MARRIED THE FORCE OF NATURE AND (THE FORCE OF) PAINTING IN MY PERFORMANCE BRIDE. MY PERFORMANCES ARE VISCERAL CONTEMPLATIONS AND THEATRICAL EVENTS BASED ON MY STUDIO PRACTICE. IN THE STUDIO, I MAKE PAINTINGS, AND IN PERFORMANCE, I AM INSIDE THE PAINTING PROCESS ITSELF. AS AN ECO-FEMINIST AND PROCESS ARTIST, MY WORK HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY.

LONG BIO

Theresa Byrnes was born in 1969 in Australia and moved to New York in 2000. She was introduced to oil painting at the age of Five. Family expeditions to paint “en plain air.” 

In her teens and 20s, she squatted in huge warehouses in Sydney’s inner west, where she painted hundreds of canvases. She began selling her work at 16, and exhibitions soon followed, and she has not stopped.

From figurative painting in 1984 to abstraction in 1994, her work became politicized by the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The political action nudged Byrnes off the fence of painting and into the pigment itself. Her first performance was in 1989, “China Crisis.” Disillusioned with society, she left the city and art college to be adopted into an Aboriginal family (the Marika family) by Roy Marika in Yirrkala Arnhem Land, Australia, in 1990.

In 1987, she was diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia (FA), a disorder of the nervous system. In 1997, she incorporated the Theresa Byrnes Foundation for Scientific Research into FA, raised a quarter of a million dollars for research (through art auctions), and published her autobiography, The Divine Mistake 1999 (Pan Macmillan). She moved to New York in 2000 and found her “home” on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

After opening the “Art/Science Fusion” exhibition in Rome, Italy, she returned to NYC. On September 11, 2001, the fall of the Twin Towers awakened her to the irrelevance of archival art materials. She began using aluminum & wood fragments to paint on recognizing the inevitability & beauty of urban decay.

In 2001-3, she opened her storefront apartment/studio as a salon, “TBG on E4th Street.” She received 2 Pollock Krasner grants for painting in 2003 & 2006, Co-curated & performed in 3 performance-based events with Frank Morales at Saint Mark's Church in 2001 & curated two events at Generation X garden on E4th Street in 2002, & 2003. She opened a storefront studio gallery on East 9th Street, “TBG (Theresa Byrnes Gallery),” from 2009 until 2020. Established and curated TACTICAL STREAM in 2016, a series of group exhibitions where artists continue developing an activist voice. 

In 2019, the "fresh" series (paintings & performance) expressed her disillusionment with making objects, resulting in “The sustainable Stain -TBG LAB" questioning, “How can creative freedom be environmentally brutal?” Experimenting with all-natural & found materials, Byrnes made paintings rejecting the idea that archival art materials are essential. She declares, “Decay is magnificent, giving life while letting of it.”

In 2021, during the pandemic, Byrnes closed TBG after 11  years and commenced a 7-month residency with GRACE  EXHIBITION SPACE, NYC. Byrnes exhibited a selection of paintings done in New York from 2001 to 2021  that traced a journey toward biodegradable artmaking while screening 20 years of performance art on surrounding screens. She did three new performances; GLIMPSE was the primary performance, and it provided an overview of her entire career spanning from 1987 to 2021, her painterly thesis on freedom."I see power and beauty in the disregarded and decayed and find freedom, in its purest state - in the mistake."  

 In 2022, Byrnes initiated the IHaveABody project with a performance of the same name. The artist's body is the central medium in the work; the project focuses on having a body and not being one, transforming concepts of self, and sharing the power of artmaking with focused intention setting. Byrnes, with the videographer Craig Youngren, have embarked on making the “documentary IHaveABody”

In 2023, Byrnes had a summer residency at WHITEBOX in New York.in performance, she stood with the trees in solidarity and resistance in her performance, “Outline For A Tree”.. In 2024, her work focuses on the quiet trauma of colonization and how we are all caught in its wide net.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024 Horizons - Kagiliran / uהאָריזאָנט / Tréimhse / Butbutnga Mururrma - The quiet trauma of colonization, 107 Projects, Syd, Australia. Curated by Sandy Edwards & Peggy Wallach

2021 “We Are All Equal In The Fall” - Archival screening with performance ephemera,. GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE - for INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART, New York

2020-2021 “Glimpse” - Twenty Years of Painting in New York, GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE, New YorkP

2019 “Fresh” - One use plastic bags as material for painting and performance, TBG, New York

2018 “Sewing New York With Ancient Earth”, TBG New York

2017 “Result”, TBG, New York

2016 “Bride” , TBG, New York

2015 “Mudbird” - A Return to the Beginnings, TBG, New York

2014 “Sparrow Heart”, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2013 “Sparrow Heart” - New paintings. TBG (Formerly known as Suffer), New York

2012 “Dust To Dust”, Paintings & Screening TBG (Formerly known as Suffer) & Rouge Space, New York

2011 “Dirty Glamour”, TBG (Formerly known as Suffer), New York

2010 “Nest”, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2009 “Revolution Revolve”, Rogue Space, New York. Curated by Maura Reily

2009 “Nest”, Heide Hatry’s loft, Williamsburg, New York. Curated by Heide Hatry

2008 “Changelings”, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney, Australia. Curated by Eric Shiner

2007 “Beings”, Rogue Space, New York

2006 “Sydney To New York”, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York. Curated by Jane Southerland

2006 “New York To Sydney” Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney Australia

2005 “Fractals of Thought”, Australian Embassy, Washington DC, USA

2004 “Tantric Painting”, Theater for the New City, New York

2002 “Landscape of Mistake”, Australian Embassy, Washington DC ,USA

2001 “Knot Not Know”, Cristianne Nienaber Contemporary Art, New York

2000 “Recent Work”, Scots Church, Sydney, Australia

2000 “The Divine Mistake”, Wagner Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1999 “Studio Show & Auction”, Conducted by Sotheby’s Australia at Scots Church, Sydney Australia

1998 “Light to Hot to Dark”, Angel Orensanz Foundation, Lower Gallery, New York

1994 “Markings” Milkwood Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1993 “Overview” Whitfield Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1991 “A Soulful Journey”, Artburn Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1989 “Apples in Disguise”, Sylvester Studios, Sydney, Australia

Selected Group Shows

2024 “Visions” Canvas International Art Fair, Venice at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capel during the 60th Venice Biennale of Art. Venice, Italy. Curated by Amaride Ferrante

2024 “Migration,” TNC Gallery Curated by  Carolyn Ratcliffe, New York 

2024 Lower East Side Festival of the arts exhibition, “Democracy Use it or Lose it.” Curated by  Carolyn Ratcliffe, New York 

2023 WHITEBOX summer residency group exhibition, New York. Curated by Yohanna M. Roa

2020 “Tactical Stream #6”, TBG New York

2018-19 “Tactical Stream #3, 4 & 5”, TBG New York

2018 “A Room Of One’s Own”, London,UK

2017 “Portal”, Soho, New York

2016 “Tactical Stream #1 & 2”, TBG New York

2015 “Visable Storage” ArtBank Gallery, Australia

2015 “Ink” Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2013 “It’s About You and Me” ABC No Rio in exile @ Bullet Space, New York. Curated by Monika Hardmeier

2012 “Paper Work”, Ground Arts org, New York

2012 Queens Art Express (QAX) - “Currency” at Supernova 26-19 Jackson Avenue Long Island City, NY. Curated by Brian Tate

2010 Hamptons International Fine Art Fair

2009 “Prozess”, Michael Lions Weir Gallery, New York. Curated by Jazz-Minh Moore

2007 “Roving Eye”, Robert Steele Gallery, New York. Curated by Robert Steele

2007 “Chelsea Artists”, Art Gotham, New York

2003 “Works on Paper”, Photo-graphic Gallery, New York. Curated by Jim Witner & Alison Jose

2002 “Video Art” Museum of New Art (MONA), Detroit, USA, curated by Jef Bourgeau

2002“Painting As Abstraction”, Paint Creek Center for the Arts, MI, USA

2001 “DOCUMENTA USA”, Museum of New Art (MONA), Detroit, USA

2001“Art/Science Fusion” Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. Curated by Gabrielle Seethaler

1999 “Christmas Show”, Wagner Gallery, Sydney, Australia. Curated by Nadine Wagner

1997 “Young Art”, FlinW Production of Optical Equivalences” EMR Gallery, Sydney Australia

1989 “Women’s War & Peace Art Exhibition”, Pier 2 –3 Walsh Bay, Sydney, Australia

Performances 

2024 ‘Facio” at the cloing of “Democracy Use it or Lose it “ TNC New York

2024 “Is She Freed”at the opening of “Democracy Use it or Lose it “ TNC New York

2024 “I Remember When.” Horizon’s, 107 gallery, Syd, Australia

2024 “I Dreamt I Was The Ocean”Evergreen Air - Bushwick Bookclub, HOWL HAPPENING, New York

2024 “I Dreamt I Was The Ocean” LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival. La Plaza Cultural, New York

2023 “Under A Tree” WHITEBOX Gallery New York

2023 “Outline for a Tree”, East River Park New York 

2023 “NURSE LOG”, New York

2022 “IHaveABody” LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival. La Plaza Cultural, New York

2021 “Glimpse”, GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE, New York

2021 “Alone. Together”, with Heide Hatry, GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE, New York

2021 “Rock” - For Ecological Cities at El Jardin Del Paridiso, New York

& for LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival at La Plaza Cultural, New York

2020 “In The Flame”, Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, New York

2019 “Fresh” - Packaging As Process LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival, TBG New York

2018 “The Snake” -LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival. La Plaza Cultural, New York

2018 “Broken” - Commissioned by Georgetown University, TBG, New York

2017 “Mudbird Uluru”, Uluru National Park 

& “Mudbird Sydney”, Janet Clayton Gallery

2017 “Result” New York Live Arts. Curated by Brian Tate

2017 “Deconsecration - Tactical Stream”, TBG, New York

2016 “Bride”, for LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival at La Plaza Cultural, New York

2015 “Mudbird” - (Performance for film) shot by Kevin O’Hanlon, stills by Rainer Hosch

2015 “Being Two” - (Performance for film) shot by Christopher Lynch.

2014 “Sparrow Heart Clothed”, Janet Clayton Gallery. Sydney, Australia

2014 “Braid” -(Performance for film) - shot by Kevin O’Hanlon, TBG, New York

2013 “Clothed” ABC No Rio in exile @ Bullet Space, New York. Curated by Monika Hardmeier

2013 “Two Minute Silence” - Performance for film shot by Kevin OHanlon

2012 “Tender”, What if We Re-Made U.S. Economic Policy? Currency at Supernova,Long Island City, NY, Curated by Brian Tate for Queens Council for The Arts, New York

2011 “Dust to Dust”, TBG (Formerly known as Suffer), New York

2010 “Nest”, Wilson Street Gallery, Australia

 Sept. “The Measure Of Man” TBG (Formerly known as Suffer), New York.

 Dec. “The Measure Of Man” Guerrilla style, back of truck, The Bowery, New York.

2009 “Nest” Heide Hatry’s loft, Williamsburg, New York. Curated by Heide Hatry

2008 “Theresa Tree”, Rogue Space, New York

2007 “Trace”, HOWL Festival, New York

2006 “Fry Free”, Chelsea Roof-top, New York - (Performance for film) shot by Kevin O’Hanlon, stills by Stephen Pusey

2006 “Sleepstain”, 526 W 26st Chelsea Arts Building, New York

2004 “Me Meat We War” - Performed in & curated, WARWHORZ, for HOWL Festival 

& for Theatre for the New City, New York

2003 “La Bomb”. REMOVING THE VEIL, HOWL Festival, New York

2003 “La Bomb”. THE NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION, St Marks Church

2003 “La Bomb”, Photo-Graphic Gallery, Soho New York

2002 “The Flag/The Patriot”, for George Gittoes, TBG (on E4th) New York

2002 “Emergency Empire”, Tompkins Square Plaza, New York

2002 “21 Crash”, Tompkins Square Plaza, New York

2002 “No Blood For Oil”, Saint Mark’s Church, New York

2002 “Opening”. The Mary Magdalen Cabaret, St Mark’s Church, NYC

2001 “Oil Painting”. WAR & CHRISTMAS, Saint Mark’s Church, New York

1989 “Lying on the flag” in response to Tiananmen square, Paileu Plaza, Sydney, Australia

Selected Publications & Press

2024 Artist Profile by Cynthia Sciberras, YOKE magazine, Australia, IN PRESS

2023 “Artist Stands With East River Trees” The Village Sun, by Lincoin Anderson.

2022 Emergency INDEX performance art journal

2021 MAMA Creatives “Creativity & Healing Q&A with Theresa Byrnes.” by Anna Kellerman

2021 The Village Sun, New York “Theresa Byrnes breaks through barriers in ‘GLIMPSE’.” by Paul DeRienzo

2021 “DOING FEMIISM Women's Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia 1968-2018.” By Prof. Anne Marsh

2020 MARIE CLAIRE Mexico “amor propio la nueva revolucion,” interview

2018 SALTY online magazine - “It’s My Power that Intimidates Men Not My Wheelchair” by Theresa Byrnes

2017 The Daily Telegraph, Australia. “Artist Theresa Byrnes lives a life less ordinary.” By Martin Newman

2016 The Villager newspaper, New York. “A Bride In The Willow: Theresa Byrnes suspends her body to create provocative art.” by Sarah Ferguson

2015 Artifactoid “Interview with Theresa Byrnes painter and performance artist.” By Alexandra Goldman, New York

2014 The Art Life “Sparrow Heart: Alchemy in the work of Theresa Byrnes.” By Luise Guest

2014 The Villager newspaper, New York. “An East Village artist reveals her fierce path to motherhood.” by Sarah Ferguson

2013 “Performance Ritual Document” Professor Anne Marsh, Director of Art Theory (Monash University) Pan Macmillan, Australia

2012 Diorama art magazine, issue #3 Interferenze. Italy “Theresa Byrnes La dolce brutalita della nature.”

2011 Chelsea Clinton News - New York Press. “Suffer for your Art. Theresa Byrnes doesn’t take the easy way out.” By Joe Bendik

2011 L’ Eldorado volume 26 number 2. “Free to observe, critique and wander - Theresa Byrnes an accomplished artist.” By Jean Phenix

2010 The Villager New York. “Three women artist who create without compromise.” By Sarah Ferguson

2010 Gathering of the Tribes magazine, issue 13, New York. “Interview with Theresa Byrnes.” By Jon Rachmani 

2010 THE LOCAL East Village NYU in collaboration with The New York Times. “On 9th Street an Artist pushes her limits.” By Robyn Baitcher

2010 The Weekend Australian Magazine - Heart of the Nation  “Who needs a brush? The performance artist and her canvas become one.: By Greg Callaghan/Photograph Greg Weight

2009 London Daily News, “ Art: Theresa Byrnes' Revolution Revolve at Rogue Space” By Martin Newman, review

2009 Artscape Magazine issue 01, New York. “All the Art that’s Fit to Drink. By Noah Sudarsky.

2009 LINK disability magazine, volume 18 issue 2. Feature & cover. “The Exhilarating Art of Theresa Byrnes.” By Denny Rosey

2008 The WeekendAustralian Magazine. The Inspire Issue. “Theresa Byrnes/artist This spirited Australian has hit the heightss of the artistic world while battling a rare disease.” By Greg Callaghan/Photograph Adam Knott

2008 Madison magazine - Body Bootcamp. Australia. “How I learned to love my body - Inspiration” By Alexandra Carlton/photograph Andrzej Liguz

2006 Sydney Morning Herald, Art Section. “Artist gets New York on a Splatter.” By Brigid Delaney

2005-7 Crosscurrents Magazine, spring & autumn 05 & winter issue 2006, winter issue 20 cover, U.S.A

2005 Crosscurrents Magazine U.S.A, winter issue. Cover and article. “A date with the divine. The art of Theresa Byrnes.” By Carey Monserrate 

2004 “Australian Artists” portraits by Greg Weight, published by Chapter & Verse

2003 Manhattan Neighborhood Network "Voices for Peace" "Emergency Empire" performance screened

2002 “Big Night Out” Short story by Theresa Byrnes, Penguin.UK

2001 From the Mayor’s Doorstep #33 (from an appropriate distance) review by Piri Halasz (review New York)

1999 Australian Style Magazine. “Iron Maiden.” By Jack Marx/Photograph Greg Weight

1998 Australian Art Collector (now Art Collector Magazine)s, review by Michel Hewtac

1994 The Sydney Review, visual arts. “Hegemonic Hype” by Jacques Delaruelle

Other

2023 NYS/NYFA Artists with Disabilities Grant

2023 Summer residency at WHITEBOX

2022-23 Creatives Rebuild New York - Guaranteed Income For Artists Grant

2020-21 Resident Artist - GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE & Gallery for INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART 182 Avenue C -New York

2021 Artist Relief - Artist Relief Cycle XIII

2020 Foundation for Contemporary Arts - COVID-19 Bridge Fund

2009-2020 Directed TBG, studio and gallery. 616 East 9th Street New York

2018 “Broken” performance based video, commissioned by Georgetown University, Washington DC.

2017 Awarded an Acker award, honoring downtown avant-garde artists

2017 Resident Artist - Uluru National Park, central Australia. Living and working on Anangu land, Mutijulu (Uluru) NT. with Art Project Coordinator for Maruku Arts

2016 founded/curated “Tactical Stream”, biannual group exhibition where artists develop their activist voice & work together toward making social change.

2014 ABC TV The 7.30 Report -Television profile Australia by

2012 QUEENS ART EXPRESS (QAX) - What if We Re-Made U.S. Economic Policy? Featured performance artist, curated by Brian Tate

2012 FILMS ON ARTISTS gallery screening DUST TO DUST performance & paintings

2011 Panelist for “The Survivors” FULL SPECTRUM, curated by Brian Tate. Brooklyn, NY

2010 -11 Guest writer for The London Daily Mirror art-blog

2009 In “Life Without Compromise” three women artists a Documentary by AJAX productions. Screened at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and Anthology Film Archives New York

2008 “Celebrating The Arsenal” short video montage by Theresa Byrnes screened at Rogue Space, New York

2007 “Me Meat We War” a short film by Theresa Byrnes, screened at the Experimental Film Festival, Pioneer Theatre, New York

2007 Play based on Theresa Byrnes, “Simplicia & the tick.” Metropolitan Playhouse Theater, NYC. Written and performed by Guenevere Donohue

2007 Children’s Theatre Art Auction at Peer gallery by Christie’s New York

2006 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant

2005 NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Portrait by Greg Weight, 1999. Australia

2004 WARCHILD “Hope” Art Auction, Christie’s, London U.K

2003 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant

2002 & 3 Curated for the HOWL Festival-Avantgarden, “Removing  Veil”& ”Warwhorz” at Generation X Community Garden, New York

2002 “Big Night Out” Short story, published by Penguin books UK & Australia. Edited by Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson, Nick Earls & Imagen Edwards-Jones

2001-Co-curated with Frank Morales, “The Mary Magdelene Caberet” & “War & Chrismas, Saint Marks Church on the Bowrey, New York

2000 Opened the Art Science Fusion exhibition with Professor Massimo Pandolfo at Sapienza University, Rome Italy. (In 1996, Dr. Pandolfo led the team that identified the Friedreich’s ataxia gene.) Curated by Gabriele Seethaler

2000 Relocated to New York

1999 “The Divine Mistake” An Autobiography by Theresa Byrnes. Published by Pan Macmillian Australia

1998 Appointed Australia Day Ambassador

1997 Community Services Award, Young Australian of The Year

1996 The Theresa Byrnes Foundation Inc Art Auction (conducted by Sotheby’s Australia)

1996 Incorporated “The Theresa Byrnes Foundation Inc, raised funds ($250 thousand) for scientific research into Friedrich’s Ataxia

1996 Guest lecturer- Painting Toowoomba University, Queensland Australia

1991 Chief Curator – Downing Center Show Cases, Sydney Australia

1990 Director - Artburn, Parramatta’s first contemporary art gallery, Australia

Education

1996 Studied/practiced Butoh dance- BODYWEATHER with Tess De Quincey at Lake Mungo National Park, N.S.W, Australia

1990 Adopted into Aboriginal family, (the Marika family) by Roy MarikaYirrkala, Arnhem Land, Gove, Australia.

1987 Bachelor of Arts, attended Sydney College of the Arts, Visual Arts, Sydney Australia