Richard Byers is a visual artist from Sydney, Australia. A graduate of Industrial Design from the University of Canberra with 12 years working experience as Concept & Creative Director for a leading design company.
He now focuses on artistic video based imagery, mixing drawing, painting & sculpture with light and video projection, often with sound & music reactivity and human interaction, his work is presented through live improvised performance & installations, as well as more traditional painted work and sculpture. Through his works he attempts to express and discover visual rhythms by engaging a connection with human rhythm, dance and behaviour. Since 2002 his projects have been featured across many diverse spaces including clubs, museums, galleries & concerts.
His most recent work is a collaboration with Australian artist On-Yau Lui, who is based in Berlin.The piece combines light & video projection together with a unique paper panel construction. The transmission of light through the naturally dyed paper has beautiful properties and gives character to the light and video; a fusion of organic and digital is the outcome. The artwork has been presented in Berlin and is now being shown in Tokyo, followed by Australian exhibitions.
sound.transmission.light Berlin – Tokyo – Sydney – Melbourne
An exhibition & performance that combines sound, music, light and paper.
For more information visit http://sound.transmissionlight.tk
Solo Exhibitions:
Visual Rhythms – Fries Gallery, Berlin 17th September – 17th November 2009
- An exploration in Structure, Line and Light – sculptures, canvas and video projection
Kudanshita Terrace Remixed – Tokyo 24-31st December 2008
- Improvised film remixing, dance and music installation in a dilapidated 1920’s city building
Group Exhibitions:
Traces – Berlin 7-10th October 2009
Nine on the Line – Berlin 7th August 2009
Rooftops Open Studios – Berlin 6th May 2009
Other recent works:
sound.transmission.light – Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne 2009
BlackBlackWhite @NNY (music event) – Tokyo 2009
Sydney Festival 2008 Dance on Screen (video installations) – Sydney Opera House, Sydney 2008
Kiss of the Beast (gallery opening event) – Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane 2005
VJ performances for Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, DJ Rupture, Jazzanova & others – Australia & Japan since 2002
History:
Club Frigid, Sydney [2002 - 2006]
Frigid became a regular place to see Superlight visuals team with Sub Bass Snarl and others from 2002 till the club closed in 2006.
Superlight was the visual coordinator for Frigid, a weekly electronic music club night. Frigid closed after 10 years on JUNE 10, 2006. The club promoting a wide range of music you couldn’t hear anywhere else in Sydney. It’s weekly nights will be remembered by all.
Superlight’s visuals in those days combined cinematic video and urban photographic details, textural video samples, strong graphic elements and live camera feeds, mixed, edited and composited live off laptop. The result being a live improvised video performance, syncronised with the music performance.
Superlight also experimented with live film remixes. Dissecting an entire film into small samples, ranging from 1 second to 1 minute, the samples were then remixed live to reconstruct a film, loosely chronologically but synchronised with the ryhthm of live music.
Other highlights include;
- Video Combustion at the Performance Space
- Sound Summit (2002, 2003, 2004) in Newcastle and the Sydney Opera house
- DJ Rupture (Spain) at the 2003 Sydney Festival Bar
- Skylounge 2003 at the National Museum of Australia (Canberra)
- Amnesty International Freedom 2004 (Metro Theatre, Sydney)
- Purdy album launch 2004
- Japan Tour in 2004 with Couchblip artists, Robokoneko, Disjunction Reunion and Himuro (Tokyo & Fukuoka, Japan)
- Cockatoo Island Festival – Frigid Stage (2005)
- Kiss of the Beast @ Queensland Art Gallery (2005)
- Amon Tobin & Kid Koala 2006 Tour @ The Factory,
- RealDance 2006 closing party @ Sydney Opera House
- Jazzanova Sydney Festival 2007 @ The Festival bar
- Sydney Festival 2008 Dance Screen video installations @ Sydney Opera House