David Byrne launches online exhibit, dingbats

Capturing the humour, isolation, anxiety and surreal nature of a Coronavirus pandemic world.

David Bryne is launching a new online exhibit of his artwork, called dingbats, via Pace Gallery this October.

Read more: An introduction to David Byrne in 10 records

dingbats is comprised of fifty hand-drawn illustrations that Byrne created while he was isolating in his Manhattan apartment earlier this year.

The series explores the daily realities of life during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic – from uncanny domestic scenes, to surreal explorations of loneliness, boredom and anxiety.

“Humour sometimes allows us to say the unspeakable. To diffuse the nightmare yet still somehow view it face on. So these seem to be about how it is to live right now. In this New World,” shares Byrne.

The drawings will be released in five instalments, with 10 works published every Monday and Thursday from now until the 29th October, and will remain online until the 2nd November. A rotating selection of drawings will also be displayed at Pace Gallery’s NYC location.

Head here to check out the exhibition in full.

Photo credit, in order of appearance: David Byrne, Cartesian Duality Ended, 2020, © David Byrne, courtesy Pace Gallery; David Byrne, Understanding Her is Easy, 2020, © David Byrne, courtesy Pace Gallery; David Byrne, A Balanced Life, 2020, © David Byrne, courtesy Pace Gallery; David Byrne, Face River Flow 2, 2020, © David Byrne, courtesy Pace Gallery; David Byrne, Podiatrist Punctuation, 2020, © David Byrne, courtesy Pace Gallery; David Byrne, Nature Man, 2020, © David Byrne, courtesy Pace Gallery.