John Michael Byrd
Artist Statement
As an artist, my work is about defiance, incubation, and the malleability of the human body. I don’t wish to tell my audience what to think while looking at my work, but how it affects their preexisting beliefs in the context of their own lives.
I’m primarily a painter, but I’m also interested in projects that push the boundaries of artistic media. My work is influenced by the painters Marlene Dumas, Frida Kahlo, and Alice Neel as well as by performance art and its historically feminist/queer pantheon of artists—Marina Abramovic, Karen Finley, Leigh Bowery, and Tim Miller.
