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Archive for February, 2009

Mermaid Avenue

Posted in At the Movies, Favorite Things, Video, tagged , , , , , on February 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Mermaid AvenueIt’s yet another Sunday morning and I’m a bit tired.  Time for a little music.

Casablanca was on TCM last night and, of course, we had to watch.  It’s one of those films that I could watch on an endless loop.   It has so much going for it- great performances, great story, memorable writing with lines that became part of our language, incredible characters (Conrad Veidt’s  Strasser is the prototype for  Nazi film  villains), romance, action and surprisingly great humor.  

It also has the glow of Ingrid Bergman.

That brings us to my selection for the day from the CD, Mermaid Avenue, from the collaboration of Billy Bragg and Wilco with their versions of song  lyrics from Woody Guthrie.  For more info, click on the album cover above.

This is the song, Ingrid Bergman, from that CD.  I wish I had a better video to accompany it but enjoy the song anyway…

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Motivators

Posted in Biographical, Influences, Technique/History, tagged , on February 7, 2009| 2 Comments »

991-855We went to the opening of the Little Gems show at the West End Gallery in Corning last night.  It’s an annual show of very small paintings by the gallery artists and is always one of my favorite shows to attend.  There was a great turnout and I talked with folks I hadn’t seen in quite some time, some of them the earliest buyers of my work.

The Little Gems show was the first show where I ever exhibited my work, back in 1995.  It was an interesting experience, as I mentioned in an earlier post on this blog, to sit back and see how people react to the work.  It ran the whole spectrum of emotions, from exhilaration as some stopped and talked with friends about how they liked the small pieces by this new artist, to despondency as some brusquely walked by without a second glance.

I remember a local, well-known businessman approaching me and seeing my name tag, said,”You’re GC Myers?  I love your work!  It’s just great!  But…”

Uh-oh.  There’s a but.  That is never a good thing…

“But I only buy paintings of places I know.  Y’know, a local landscape or landmark.”

What?  At the time, it was an odd sensation.  It was one of the most exuberant expressions of approval for my work I had yet heard followed within a breath by a backhanded slap.  It took a long time before I processed this comment but in the long run it helped me.  It sparked my natural contrarian nature and gave me some resolve to not to kowtow to such little minds, to paint what I wished to paint in whatever manner I so chose.  This has served me well over the years and whenever I feel I am steering my work to someone else’s criteria of validity, I pull out that incident and stay on my own course.

I’ve had other incidents like this.  For instance, there is a well-known collector from our area with a vast collection who I’ve known for many years.  He knew me before I was a painter.  Whenever we meet he is highly complimentary but has never added one of my pieces to his collection.  Several years ago I learned the reason.

At an opening he said, “I really should have one of your pieces but…”

Uh-oh.

“But I only buy oil paintings.”

Now I’ve known of this bias for a long time but hearing it from a savvy collector was a kick in  the head.  All I could ask myself was if this guy would not want a Wyeth watercolor or a Klee work on paper?  He was cutting out a broad swath of the art world with this somewhat arbitrary qualifier.  It seemed to me that it was his loss.

Again, I have used that as incentive over the years.  The “don’t tell me what I can or can’t do” factor is a big motivator for me, even now.

Hey, that makes me want to paint.  See ya’…….

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Endless Possibility

Posted in Painting, Technique/History, tagged on February 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Endless PossibilityI talked with an old friend the other day who asked  about my paintings, specifically if there were works that I considered better than others.  

I’m asked this quite often, particularly at shows where the questioner might be trying to get some insight into what I think are the real treasures there.

I explained to my friend that I had a common interest in every piece I create and that I treat every painting, from the very smallest to the largest, with the same care and thought.  You see, I view every piece as a performance, much like a musician or a dancer.  To me, if I’m painting, I’m performing.  I don’t have sketches or studies.  Even if I’m at work on a small piece that that may well be the inspiration for a larger piece at some point, that smaller piece is treated as the primary painting.

Like any discipline, this creates muscle memory.  It’s like a performer treating a rehearsal as an actual performance.

This being the case, each piece is equal at some level.  One of my goals is to create work that is equal in performance and power regardless of size.  

However, the variable in this is that my technique is changing and adjusting day to day.  For instance, the piece above, Endless Possibility, is from a few years ago and one that stands out in my head.  It is performed in a composition that is very familiar to me, like a musician playing one of their favorite songs.  But because of variables such as my evolving technique, changes in materials, environmental factors (sometimes warmth and humidity play a significant part in the final product) and other such things, this piece, like most others,  is absolutely unique.  I would be hard-pressed to replicate this.  Probably couldn’t.  There are colors and textures that are unique in this piece because of the variables I’ve mentioned.  

That’s the goal for each piece: to emphasize the unique quality of that piece regardless of its size.  To unleash the the strength that is latent in each piece.

I guess there is endless possibility in that…

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Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

Posted in Video, tagged on February 4, 2009| 4 Comments »

SerenadedI just don’t know…

They seem to be my go-to words when all else fails.  I don’t know if it’s a matter of not knowing about what I happen to be pondering at the moment or if it’s a matter of certainty.

I just don’t know if there are any absolutes in this world, outside of my uncertainty.

I envy those people, so many who seem to blog, who see the world with such certainty.  Certain in their beliefs and convictions.  Certain that their perspective is true.  Certain that they are right in all things.  Certain that anyone is listening or caring.  Certain that their opinion matters.

The one thing I do know is that I have never had that certainty.  Even as I write this I am unsure that anyone will read this or even think more than  a moment about it if they do.  I think that is why I have always believed that when someone sees something in my work and decides to make it part of their life, that it is a small miracle, something beyond the reach of my uncertainty.

How does this happen?  Well, I just don’t know.  Maybe this not knowing keeps me going forward, plugging onward, searching for something that gives me that evasive sense of certainty.

Until that time, here’s a video from the Decemberists with kind of the feeling that I have at the moment.  Hope you enjoy…

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Egon Schiele

Posted in Influences on February 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Egon SchieleI have always been drawn to the work of Egon Schiele.  He is perhaps best known for his self-portraits and his figurative work of long, gaunt bodies. Many are nudes, some bordering on what might be considered pornographic, especially for the time in which they were produced.  They were angular and bony and have the look of heroin chic.  Most of all they exude a feeling of being.  Powerful stuff.

Egon Schiele CityscapeThat being said, I am actually most drawn to his cityscapes.  I find them beautiful in a gem-like fashion.  I love the beauty of his colors and the dark griminess that permeates them.  It’s a particular quality that I try to instill in my work.  Every time, when I stumble upon these works after not seeing them for some time, I am excited and inspired by the colors, texture and composition of this work.

egon_schieleegon_schieleegon-schiele Agony

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Two Sides

Posted in Influences, Painting, tagged , , on February 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

996-229-two-sidesThis is another piece from my Outlaws series, titled Two Sides.  For some, this is a little scary- a guy holding a gun.  For me, it is representative of the two opposing sides in everyone’s nature.

yin-yangI believe we are all comprised of equal parts of opposing valuesin our natures- man/woman, good/bad, light/dark.  Most walk that centerline that divides the two halves but both sides are always there, closer at hand that we may find comfortable.

This piece was designed to somewhat replicate the yin-yang symbol of Taoism.  Light and darkness make up the central character, although he appears to have slid slightly more to the darker side of his nature.

Perhaps appearances can be deceiving…

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Are We There Yet?

Posted in Technique/History, tagged on February 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Outside the BeltwayI had a question come up yesterday, a question that has been raised before and one that I have answered more than once with much difficulty.  The interesting thing is that because of the nature of what it deals with the answer is always shifting a little.

The question came from a viewer who asked how I determine when a painting is complete.  How do I say that enough is enough and step away from the painting?

There is no clear and specific answer for this because it all depends on an intuitive sense  of rightness in the piece, something I’ve mentioned in past posts.  There are parts of the eye and brain that are constantly measuring the piece as I work it, weighing the various aspects of the elements that make up the painting.  Color and harmony of color.  Depth into the piece.  Balance in the various compositional elements.  

There must be a unique sense of being and  place, all within the bounds of logic.  My mind must not question the viability of what I see before me.  

Many of the things I’m taking in are almost intangible but a certain tipping point is inevitably reached where any more paint, any more strokes, would not add anything to the piece and may in fact take away from the painting and it’s freshness , edge and logic.

I am looking, at this point, for the piece to have it’s own life force, it’s own momentum that goes beyond what I know is my own contribution to the painting.  In other words, the whole must be greater than the sum of its parts. 

Now sometimes this feeling is misguided or plain wrong and after a time, needed additions to the piece become apparent.  Occasionally a piece will come back to the studio after touring the galleries and I will spend some time with it only to see a deficiency that had eluded my eye earlier.  It’s interesting how a small, seemingly unimportant, tweak to a piece can change it’s entire impact.  

To minimize this, I am always looking at work as I complete it, trying to determine if I have reached this desired level or rightness.

It’s an ongoing thing, one that is always shifting a bit and changing.  Like most people…

The painting above is a new piece and is called Outside the Beltway and is in the Red Roof series.  I’m spending some time with it in the studio.

 So far, it’s measuring up.

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Route 66

Posted in Favorite Things, Video, tagged , on February 1, 2009| 2 Comments »

fausts-guitarAnother Sunday morning and I think we all deserve a little break, maybe a little song.

Today, I’ve chosen Nat King Cole and his uber-cool Route 66.  

The voice of Nat King Cole has always been magic for me.  Silky smooth and seemingly effortless.  Full of nuance.

His choice of song was nearly perfect.  He seemed to always perform songs that fit his voice and his combo’s cool playing, so much that the song became his and his alone.

Mona Lisa, Route 66, L-O-V-E, and on and on.  Nature Boy is still one of the most haunting songs I’ve ever heard.

Anyway, on this Super Sunday, sit back, relax and take a little trip down Route 66…

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