BYRNE EXHIBITS DRUG LIFESTYLE TO BELFAST

DAVID BYRNE, the former lead singer with the group Talking Heads, has
designed a series of bizarre billboard posters for Belfast, featuring images
of drug abuse.

Byrne has chosen Belfast for the premiere of the poster series, called
Better Living Through Chemistry, currently displayed on six hoardings around
the city; in Donegall Street, Great Victoria Street, Queens Square, King
Street, Newtownards Road and Ormeau Road. Alexander Boydisplays, an outdoor
advertising agency, is its sponsor.

The posters feature typical landscape images mixed with photographs of drug
paraphernalia and "motivational phrases". Byrne had planned to use images of
guns but changed his mind.

"Some of the billboards have been seen as being pro-drugs or anti-drugs. Of
course I have no control over that once they're out there. I had wanted to
use some images of guns for this show, but I decided against that because of
the sensitivity of the situation here," he said.

Sunset Crack Vial shows a sunset with a vial of the drug and the caption:
"New concepts stretch the mind which can never return to its original
shape". Acid Trip features a photograph of outer space and tabs of LSD
embossed with a likeness of the cartoon character, Felix the Cat. Its legend
reads: "You can't touch the stars and still remain at home".

A third poster shows a metal pipe used for smoking crack or hash emerging
from a scenic lake and the words: "Winner are losers with a new attitude".

Byrne, whose band had hits with Road to Nowhere and Psycho Killer, said the
photographs were intended to be "very pretty, a little confusing, a little
ambiguous and somewhat dangerous and exciting, like all ads".

Byrne enjoys exhibiting his photographic work in public places and held a
similar exhibition in San Francisco, California, where he displayed posters
on bus shelters. He has been taking photographs since attending art college,
but has only recently begun to exhibit his work.

Belfast's Ormeau Baths Gallery is also showing some of his photographs in an
exhibition called Strange Ritual and Sleepless Nights.

During his trip to Belfast, Byrne took interest in the city's other
controversial artwork: sectarian street murals.

"I think they're an important part of the place's history which should not
just be whitewashed over," said Byrne. "One day museums will probably want
to preserve them."

Checked-by: Don Beck