IRE ELEVANT by byrd (Dan Maginnity) at The Mixing Room Gallery

byrd’s themes emerge from a personal universe that explores environmental, gender and race politics, the paradoxes of the arts industry, and mediated pop culture.  His lens has a deep appreciation of Australia’s creatures and natural environment and is interested in the aspirations and pitfalls of placemaking, through the collection, reflection and re-presentation (or reimagining) of local things. Dan Maginnity aka byrd is a freelance graffiti muralist and conceptual sculptor, whose primary focus is the interface between the human condition and the places they occupy. Starting out as a graffiti painter, he remains passionate about grass roots and activist art-practice, and its history in the local and global contexts. Since the late 1990’s, byrd has been leaving traces on the City of Canberra, but has active networks with the street art scenes across Australia. His work may be found in the collections of The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Craft ACT and various private collections both locally and abroad. He has produced commissions for the City of Sydney, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, the Gallery of Australian Design, Craft ACT, Westfield Hyperdome, the Belconnen Art Centre, the Canberra Glass Works, Megalo, CIT Reid, CIT Tuggeranong and numerous local businesses and schools. Byrd is represented by the Nancy Sever Gallery in Canberra.