Michael Byron (born 1954) is a St. Louis-based visual artist who works in painting and collage, with a strong parallel involvement in installation. His work reflects a continuing interest in the nature of objects, particularly the theatrical nature of objects of contemplation. His large digital collages on aluminum and fabric combine collage with installation strategies he developed in the 1980s.
Born in Rhode Island, Byron earned a BFA in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1977 and an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design in 1981. His inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art’s An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture in 1984 marked the beginning of his international career.
After the 1989 Whitney Biennial he lived and worked in Amsterdam for five years, returning to the United States in 1994. He has since exhibited at the Saint Louis Art Museum (Short Stories, 1996), the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (The Amitin Notebook Project, 2001–02), and the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (Cosmic Tears, 2009).
Byron is professor emeritus at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, where he joined the painting faculty in 1996. His honors include a 1989 National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and the Taubman Museum of Art, among others.
SELECTED WORKS
Michael Byron Constellation: Station, 1997–2002 Oil on canvas 28 x 28 in. (71.1 x 71.1 cm)
Michael Byron 6.11.2019 Paris (C.I.d.A) Studio 8425, 2019 Mixed media collage on paper 16 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (41 x 33.7 cm)
Michael Byron 01. 08. 06. Sunday N.Y. Times, 2006–2016 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Byron The New Yorker in St. Louis #5, 2020 Mixed media collage on paper 16 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (41.3 x 33.7 cm)
Michael Byron 2 Models One Theory I, 2014 Print on canvas, oil, metal leaf 46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.4 cm)
Michael Byron 2 Models One Theory II, 2014 Print on canvas, oil, metal leaf 48 x 36 in. (122 x 91.4 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2025 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2025 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Michael Byron Morph(ine), 2007 Mixed media and oil on canvas 31 x 37 in. (78.7 x 94 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2024 Oil on canvas 18 x 12 in.
Michael Byron H.t.B.a.G.2, 2019 Digital collage on aluminum panel, mirror, crystals (2 elements) 88 x 48 x 48 in. (223.5 x 121.9 x 121.9 cm)
Michael Byron The Wheel of Fortune, 2017–18 Digital collage on aluminum panel, ball, chains, keys (2 elements) 89 x 72 x 58 in. (226.1 x 182.9 x 147.3 cm)
Michael Byron Camp Follower’s Chair 1978, 2018 Digital collage on aluminum panel, and mixed media (2 elements) 88 x 51 x 58 in. (223.5 x 129.5 x 147.3 cm)
Michael Byron Byron Hand Floating & Circus, 2019 Digital collage on aluminum 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)
Michael Byron Lamp & Coins, 2020 Digital collage on aluminum panel 33 1/2 x 47 3/4 in. (85.1 x 121.3 cm)
Michael Byron Summit Handshake (Submit) (Hypnosis) Center St. Coxsackis, 2018 Digital collage on aluminum panel 32 x 23 1/2 in. (81.3 x 59.7 cm)
Michael Byron Book & Figure Skater, 2020 Digital collage on aluminum panel 30 1/4 x 47 3/4 in. (76.8 x 121.3 cm)
Michael Byron Byron Hand Floating & Circus, 2019 Digital collage on aluminum 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2020 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2018 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2017 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Marquis de Lafayette (After Houdon, 1785), 2017 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2020 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Untitled, 2018 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Michael Byron Border and the Promised Land, 2015 Digital collage on fabric and oil on canvas 90 x 68 1/2 x 1 in. (228.6 x 172.7 x 2.5 cm)
Michael Byron Showtime, 2015 Digital collage on fabric and oil on canvas 73 x 53 x 1 in. (185.4 x 134.6 x 2.5 cm)
Michael Byron Awning & Easel, 2015 Digital collage on fabric and oil on canvas 84 x 61 1/2 x 1 in. (213.4 x 154.9 x 2.5 cm)
Michael Byron Wet Statue, 1997 Oil on canvas 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)
EXHIBITIONS
BRUNO DAVID GALLERY, ST. LOUIS
The Wheel of Fortune & How to Build a Ghost
Solo exhibition
12 September – 24 October 2020
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK
Whitney Biennial 1989
Group exhibition
18 April – 16 July 1989
NEWS
ACQUISITION
When Circumstances Conspire (1993) joins the Taubman Museum of Art collection
Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, December 2025
OPEN STUDIOS
Open Studios at City Museum, with Judy Child
City Museum, St. Louis, November 2024
GROUP EXHIBITION
A Place Like This
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri, August 2023
PUBLICATIONS
SELECTED PRESS
FEATURE
A Fluid Tableau: Michael Byron in Process
MENTAL ELECTRIC, Hesse Caplinger, May 2024