Redtree Times

I’m in the final weeks before my next show for the year, opening July 24 at the West End Gallery in Corning, NY.  This is, as I wrote in earlier posts, the the time when I’m finishing up the last details of painting on the body of work, varnishing finished canvases, getting the frames prepped  and titling each painting.  Hectic.

The title of this show is Dispatches.  Linda Gardner, owner of the West End, asked the other day for a show statement and I realized I had not had a chance to write one.  I don’t always write a statement for my shows but Lin likes to use quotes from the statements in preparing press releases and other publicity for the show so I always do one for her.

This is my first draft of this year’s statement:

Dispatches.

Messages sent out into the world. The act of communication.

The name for this group of work came from this idea that has been rolling around in my head for a while. I’ve began to realize, over the years that I have been fortunate enough to show my work at the West End Gallery, that my paintings are not about simply portraying a scene, merely creating a pleasant decoration for one’s home or office. I realize now that they are a form of communication, a way of transmitting a feeling across that void between the picture and the viewer’s eyes and making a connection. It’s this connection, this union between the painted surface and the viewer’s own experiences, that gives voice to the work and allows it to say more than I ever consciously could.

I wish I could explain how this connection comes about. I wish I could explain the alchemy behind how a simple painted surface affects another person. I wish I could know how to insert my desired message into a painting. But I can’t.

So, knowing that I can’t control this reaction between the painting and the viewer, I have started looking on the work I do as dispatches, messages sent out into the world. Being such, for them to reflect what I want for myself, they must be earnest and honest. They must be true to my way of being if they are to reach out to others and reflect their own truth.

So, this is how I see this work. Dispatches. Messaages. If I have been true to myself, some will make that connection.

-GC Myers

July, 2009