Byrd is the "tag name" of Dan Maginnity, an artist in his mid-40s. He has been gradually transitioning from a street artist, who has been leaving his mark around the public spaces of the nation's capital, to a commercial art gallery artist making pricey spray painted easel-sized works designed for display in the white cube and destined for private art collections in designer homes.

There is an old argument that if you wish to snuff out something illegal, then just legalise it. In the ACT there has been a concerted move to convert tagging and graffiti into legal art activities to brighten up public spaces and create tourist attractions.

One of the traditional definitions of street art is non-commissioned art in public spaces. Now, the chic graffiti look has become the stuff of commercial advertising for trendy urban living.

Traditionally, street art is best when viewed in the light of the street, frequently created in a hurry and seen from awkward angles. It is generally art that is motivated by causes and that sets out to protest about the injustices in society and aims to reclaim for the common good that which has been usurped by well-heeled private interests.

Byrd may have emerged out of a tradition of street art, but for many years he has been working for big business and various state, municipal and local bodies with commissions to paint murals and to work on various other public art projects.

These have included 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 Hindmarsh group, ActewAGL and the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation. His artist's profile has an enviable list of important public collections representing his work including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Museum and Gallery and Craft ACT.

This is quite a large exhibition of Byrd's work, more than 50 spray painted panels of various sizes. The panels themselves are made from reclaimed gallery and studio furniture, old exhibition plinths and industrial shelving.

On these appears a multiplicity of Australian birds, rendered as hand-cut, multi-layer aerosol stencil prints.

The titles are social conscience slogans drawn from politics and popular culture, such as Wallpaper for capitalism - wattle birds, Letting Australia down again - don't want responsibility, De-historisation - cultural infrastructure and Letting Australia down again - emerging leaders. The humour is fairly predictable, so that the emerging leaders are a bunch of parrots and galahs, parrots and magpies represent cultural infrastructure.

They are stark, snappy and witty, a hybrid between street art and urban pop. Unlike some of his earlier exhibitions where there were many rough edges, quirky inventions and risky provocations, here the work is safe and risk-free.

It is very professional and polished and unlikely to offend anyone, aside from those already written off as lost causes. The galahs, budgies and maggies hold their ground and squawk and screech their defiance at the capitalist system within which they have now been accommodated.

A personal favourite from the exhibition is De-historisation - cultural infrastructure where on a smallish panel of 81 centimetres by 64 centimetres we have a gathering of two galahs, two sulphur-crested cockatoos and a solitary magpie, all neatly spray painted, seriously engaged in this parliament of fowls. It is witty, pleasing and a spot decorative.