MARCOS BYRD I. AIMS As an artist, as the ears, eyes and mouthpiece of society, I feel compelled to show, to express, the way life affects me and those close to me. I feel an artist like me is integral to mankind. I give other people a different angle on a theme. I have a. unique vision that will shock, amuse and enlighten the world. II. EVOLUTION Art is no passing fancy with me. l'm dead serious about it. At an early age I decided to go whole hog - no halfway measures. I have worked hard on all areas of classical technique. l've also studied the history of art and the evolution of other artists. - I peruse the museums of New York and the rest of the world with a passion. I find the tradition of art fascinating. As much as I feel the weight of tradition, I've done my own experimenting and have come up with a "voice" of my own in the last few years. As I received most of my training in Mexico, I couldn't help but be influenced by the muralists Orozco, Rivera and Siqueiros. III. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS These days I see so many artists who are short on imagination, l'm reminded of warmed-over food. For me, if there's no conflict, no provocation, no narrative, no dissonant chords progressing to a climax, no passion, no life, I wonder what could be the motive for painting. As for myself, even if I lived ten lives, I still wouldn't have the time to paint all the stories, fantasies and conflicts that bubble up inside me, ever growing like a yeasty dough. In the past my themes have been random - whatever gripped me most at the moment. But now, looking back, one can begin to group them: the social significance of work, the contradictory morals of society, the horror and question mark of death, the joys and problems of love and sex, the adventures of our dream world. As for my projections, I want to continue in the same line using the tangible represenational style l've honed and tempered. I do strive to become more subtle, more attuned to the shades of grey and the fine nuances of psychology. I want to explore using art as a supplement to litterature. Not exactly as illustration, but more as an alternative image - a visual narrative with all the aesthetics of art. I wrote this back in 1987 for the MOCHA show in NYC. Not much has changed since then. I want to try my hand on a graphic novel -- an illustration of one of my own. I´ve had an art video produced that was shown on Copenhagen canal a few years ago. I´d like to elaborate on that theme too. Actually, I have a horde of projects to realize before I move up to that great studio in the sky. I may add, that as far as the philosophy I mentioned above goes; I don´t always really know what motivates me. Sometimes, I plan to do a certain type of painting, and end up in a different ball park. I use to think every thing I did was combination of will and circumstances. A verse form one of my songs goes: "I´m like the ice, I´m like the wind, I´m like the rain, I´m like the salmon I catch in my seine, trapped between the meshes of will and circumstance, I am the brother to the sister of chance." Now I´m begging to wonder if there are some unseen forces steering my pshiche. Let´s see what I can produce in the time that´s left. Quotes from Reviews of Marcos Byrd´s Exhibitions "There are carnival scenes and paintings of men and women who make love -- strange, nasty and worth seeing." Virtus Schade, Berlingske Tidende, 1985 "Marcos Byrd doesn´t belong to the type of artist who is satisfied with a sugestive rendering or hides his message in the abstract. His paintings meet the eye with a powerful, juicy, color-play of naturalism. Bodil Krog, Jyllands-Posten 2005 "I call this new style, "stand-here-perspective." It coantains another message too: That our perspective always is the result of the angle through which subjects and objects are presented -- sometimes real other times, illusive or manipulating," says Marcos Byrd, who also made the exhibitions poster for the Syntese show at Charlottenborg." Frederiksborg Amts Avis, 1989 "Byrd´s highly detailed vision of the Central American conflict underscores its profoundly surreal aspects." Susana Torruella Leval, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, New York City "The paintings that show the lives of "ordinary" Nicaraguans (particularly "The Harvest") displaying the dignity and strength of the average farmworker as well as the deep respect that Byrd feels for his subjects, are his most effective statements, both artistically and politcally." 108 An East Village Review, New York City 1987