David Byrd and Peter Gallo Exhibition Explores Mental Health Through Art at Zieher Smith & Horton

From November 19 to December 24, 2015, Zieher Smith & Horton presented 'The Patients and the Doctors,' a two-person exhibition featuring David Byrd and Peter Gallo at 516 West 20th Street in New York City. Both artists drew extensively from their professional experiences in mental health facilities. Byrd, who lived from 1926 to 2013, worked as an orderly at the Veteran's Administration Medical Hospital in Montrose, New York, after studying art through the G.I. Bill. His paintings depict institutionalized figures with a delicate touch, employing a social and magical realist style reminiscent of early to mid-20th century art. References to Francisco Goya and the physical agony of his subjects contrast with softly lit, pastel interiors. Peter Gallo, born in 1959 and based in Hyde Park, Vermont, worked as a case manager while developing his 'bio-aesthetics' practice, informed by his art history PhD. His work uses materials like bedsheets and burlap, often incorporating text and the imprint of his own body, as seen in pieces referencing poet Paul Celan and writer Pierre Guyotat. The exhibition title derives from a 1947 work by poet Antonin Artaud. Byrd's art was discovered late in his life; he was diagnosed with lung cancer just before his first show and died shortly after it closed. The pairing examines the relationship between body and mind under institutional pressure.