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Archive for August, 2010

The Sadness of the Crazies

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged on August 11, 2010| 6 Comments »

We’ve been fairly fortunate in  this area to have been spared the full brunt of nutty political protests on a regular basis.  No big Tea Party gatherings.  No Obama Is Hitler signs. Very little to be seen around these parts.  It’s not that the people who support these causes aren’t around because they are out there.  Oh, yeah. They’re out there.

Yesterday, we got our first taste of it on a personal basis at our local Horseheads, NY post office.  On the the front corner of the property was a table with posters all around, saying the typical things like Impeach Obama.  Nothing remarkable.  Then I spotted it.

The Obama poster with the Hitler moustache.

I am all for First Amendment Rights, being able to make the public stage your own bully pulpit, but something about this just went against the grain for me.  There is something truly hateful in that poster that goes beyond mere protest.  Surely it shouldn’t be allowed on postal property.

So we complained and the post office supervisor apologized, saying she had tried everything but so long as they didn’t approach folks going in and out of the post office itself and weren’t campaigning, they were unable to have them removed.  She said she had received a non-stop stream of complaints all day and was clearly flustered by the ruckus.

Leaving, I noticed at the top of their posters the name of the website behind this crap.  It was Lyndon LaRouche!  The conspiracy-driven schemer, de-frauder  and ex-con was behind it!  I’m not going to go into the absurdity that is Lyndon LaRouche here.  There are thousands of sites to find out more for yourself.  His movement is classified by many not as a politcal movement but as a cult and has made him a wealthy man over the many decades he has been in action.

So the Obama-Hitler poster is his product!  The anger I felt at the fools standing in front of them turned quickly to a real sadness.  The sadness that comes from seeing weaker minded people being exploited.  Sad that these people, who were concerned and upset with our nation and with their lot in life, had fell prey to someone espousing such  hate and nonsense.  Someone who played to their deepest fears and stood to profit from it.

Even now, as I sit here this morning, it is not outrage I feel but a queasy mixture of sadness and worry.  Worried that their are so many others like these people out there, waiting rise up, without questioning with their own commone sense, at the call of someone like LaRouche. I had always seen the Obama Hitler poster as idiocyand hate but now see it also as  a symbol of exploitation…

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Nightglow

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , on August 10, 2010| 2 Comments »

 People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.

                      –Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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Nightglow-- GC Myers 2010

I was having trouble describing what I saw in this painting, Nightglow, so I went looking for other people’s word to help me.  I came across this quote from Kubler-Ross, the famed psychiatrist who pioneered the study of death and dying and introduced the Five Stages of Grief to us.

It’s a simple quote and a simple premise- that we are measured not by how we behave when things are at their best but by how we rise to face obstacles and problems.  How we gather light in the darkness and how we reflect it and give off our own light.

One always hopes that they are the one who gives off the light, that they possess the ability to shine brightest at the darkest moments.  Perhaps it’s just a romantic notion of a heroic quality that evades most of us.  But we can, and should, aspire to such a quality.  It is far too easy to respond to darkness with our own darkness.  We see this every day, in so many situations, and continue to stumble through the murk.

Light will show us the way through darkness every time.

 

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Nightglow is part of the New Days show at the West End Gallery in Corning. 

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Kitsch Monday

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, Television, Video, tagged , , on August 9, 2010| 5 Comments »

The Mothers-In-Law

Sometimes when I’m looking for something for this blog I come across other things that distract me like a shiny object flashed in front of an infant.  Whatever I was seeking is forgotten and I’m off on a new tangent.  Such is the case today.

I was looking for a piece of film of a 60’s garage band when I stumbled on this.  It’s from the short-lived television series The Mothers-In-Law which ran from1967-1968.  It was an unremarkable but funny sitcom starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as mismatched in-laws of a young married couple.  I remember watching it as a kid and enjoying it but can’t remember anything specific.  It was just there.

I only bring it up because of this clip featuring the TV family somehow hosting the 60’s band The Seeds in their living room, where the band performs their garage classic Pushin’ Too Hard.   It’s a great bit of kitschy television, the kind of moment that the 60’s TV often produced.  It’s almost as good as the clip from the Mike Douglas Show with a performance of Mustang Sally by a band called The Cavemen, dressed in goofy Fred Flintstone costumes.  What the heck, I’ll throw that in as well.

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Rothko

Posted in Influences, tagged , on August 8, 2010| 8 Comments »

I ran into my neighbor a few weeks back while walking out my driveway to get my newspaper.  We chit-chatted for a few moments and he told me that he and his partner had recently seen the theatrical show Red in NYC.  It’s about the artist Mark Rothko, played onstage by Alfred Molina who gave what my neighbor described as a dazzling performance.

As we parted and I headed back, I began to think of how little I knew of Rothko and his life.  I knew a number of his paintings, especially his signature works which are called multi-forms by critics and collectors.  The pieces shown here are examples of this work.  I have always been drawn to these paintings, especially when confronted by them in museums.  They are normally large in size and have two blocks of color placed one over the other.  They often have a blurred, almost fuzzy appearance created by multiple layers of paint that creates a preternatural glow in some of the colors. 

I have thought many of these to be exceptionally beautiful and meditative,  finding myself mesmerized by the aura of these paintings. I have even referenced these paintings many times over the years as an influence on the forms of many of my own paintings.  But I knew (and still know) little of the man or how he came to this form and style. Or his theories on his work.  It just seemed enough to take that feeling I recived from his work and translated/integrated it into my own, without words and theories.  Even this morning as I write this, I know practically nothing of Rothko, his life or his work prior to the multi-forms that I do know.

Maybe that’s the way it should be.   As Rothko said, “Silence is so accurate.”

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After the Talk

Posted in Technique/History, tagged on August 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

I had my Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery yesterday and it went well.  Very nice turnout with many new faces and lots of questions to answer which made the time go by quickly.  Which is a good thing because, at the end, I am sick to death of talking about myself and my work.  But it’s all part of the job of being an artist.

I’ve often said that the hardest part of this career is the constant self-promotion that one must maintain if one wants to succeed in the business of art (or just about any other business, for that matter), which goes against the very nature of many artists who are often either somewhat introverted or desirous of staying out of the spotlight so that they can simply observe.  I don’t know where I fall in these groups.

It would be lovely to only stay in the studio to paint and not have to talk (or write) about myself or my work.  To not have to seek out new outlets for my work, new avenues to reach a wider audience for my paintings.  To simply create.

But I’ve always seen my work as a vehicle for communicating something inside that I can’t explain to people I don’t know.  I don’t make it for myself.  If I didn’t think it would move others, I probably wouldn’t do it at all.  I have the feeling and imagery inside already.  No, for me to want to create it, it needs to be seen.  And that means I must do whatever I can to inform people of it.

It’s not something that many artists are well suited for and something that most art programs don’t teach.  I can only imagine how much truly great art has been lost through the ages due to an inability or unwillingness by the artist to speak up about their work.

But, as I said, it’s part of the bargain that comes with the job.  So while I would rather be alone in my studio, I talk…

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Gallery Talk, Again

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on August 5, 2010| 2 Comments »

Whenever I write about politics or an issue associated with it such as supply-side economics, as I have in the past week, I feel like I may be getting out of my depth in the pool.  So, today I’m back where i’m a bit more comfortable and my feet are planted solidly on the pool’s bottom.  Today, at 12 noon, I have my annual Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery in Corning.

I have done these all over and sometimes they go very well and sometimes less so.  Usually, at the West End, there is a certain degree of familiarity with many of the folks who come to listen which makes it a very comfortable setting for me.  One of the biggest challenges in doing these discussions at one gallery over a period of time is having new information to give to the listeners, who may have heard me a number of times.  They have heard the stories about how I fell from my ladder and started painting (not at the same time), have heard how I came to show at the West End, have heard how the Red Tree evolved, etc.  They want to hear something new.

So we usually talk about new things in my work.  In past years, it’s been the Archaeology series.  This year, it’s the gray work.  There are always a few artists who want to talk technique but I try to keep it away from going that way too much.  I think the motivations and stories behind the paintings are far more interesting than what hue of yellow I use. 

One piece I’m sure that I will be asked about is the painting above, Auld Lang Syne, with its Red Chairs and green-leafed central tree.  I am always asked about the chairs, either what meaning they hold or, in some pieces, how and why they came to be hanging in trees.  I try to remember to ask the questioner what they see in the piece before I answer.  Sometimes the answers open new windows for me in how I see my own work.

So, I’m off to talk today.  If you’re in Corning today, please stop in.  It could be an interesting hour…

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Queen Meg

Posted in Opinion, tagged , on August 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Whenever I read anything about Meg Whitman’s money-encrusted crusade to become the next Governor of California, I am filled with all sorts of thoughts.  Thoughts and revulsion.

She’s already spent $100 million in her quest, $91M of it her own, to quash Democrat Jerry Brown.  Without even considering how much better that money could serve the world, it seems to me that she doesn’t seem to be getting much bang for her buck  as Brown is leading her in recent polls, even though he has yet to spend a million dollars on his campaign.  Brown has always been one for austerity.

He has also been receiving a lot of help from groups who oppose Whitman, such as the nurses’ union, the California Nurses Association,  that came up with the character shown to the left here, Queen Meg.  Queen Meg follows Whitman’s campaign all over the state of California, showing up to make royal proclamations such as her being “rich enough to rule.”  It has been quite effective.

Now I’m not naive enough to think that Whitman is the first to try to buy her way into office.  Just think a few years back to Jon Corzine’s campaign in New Jersey.  Although we pride ourselves as a nation on our claims of being a democracy of the people, our history is primarily one of the wealthy dominating our political landscape. 

In the past, our press held the primary position of protecting our democracy against these incursions from the ruling class, holding their feet to the fire over the accuracy of their statements and the the overall direction in which they wanted to lead us.  I know that the press soemtimes came up short in this aspect but the threat of having the truth exposed was always there.

But we live in a post-press world now and candidates like Whitman can use their money to push  half-truths and non-truths on their potential constituency in old and new ways without little fear that their statements will be fully challenged.  And even if they are challenged, the statements are already out there and many of those who heard them will not even recognize that they have been discredited.  The wealthy candidate has the resources to overcome the power of whatever free press is left in this society.  So, they shamelessly spend.  Or shill for more money.

Take for example, Sharron Angle, the Nevadan Tea Partier who is vying for Harry Reid’s seat.  She refuses to speak with press, often nearly breaking into a trot to avoid their microphones and cameras.  That is, she refuses to speak to those who won’t allow her to make plugs for donation on her website.  She makes no excuses for her behavior or her disregard for the responsibility of the press, saying that while she would like  “to have the press be our friend,” she wants the press “ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported.”  That even has the folks at Fox News scratching their head in disbelief.

So, I lament once again the loss of the protection an active and free press once offered to the populace.  It obviously wasn’t perfect in practice but this glimpse of a post-press world is much worse.  The wealthy will continue to try to maintain their political power, selling it to us, unchecked,  with the idea, much like the concept of supply-side economics, that if their policies are good for  the wealthy, they are ultimately good for us all.

Hopefully, the good people of California are not buying it.

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County Fair

Posted in Biographical, Influences, Neat Stuff, tagged , on August 3, 2010| 3 Comments »

Today is the first day of  our local County Fair.  The Chemung County Fair is in its 168th year and for a good part of my youth was the high point of the summer.  I wasn’t in 4H and had little to do with farming, so outside of quickly racing through the barns to look at the prize cows and chickens, I wasn’t there for any of the agricultural aspects of the fair.

No, I was there for the Midway.  The whirling  rides, the challenging games and the lurid shows— it all conspired to trigger the maximum emotional response for a twelve-year old kid.  Or a thirty year old man with a twelve-year old’s brain. 

Every year at the beginning of August, the James E. Strates train pulled into town, 61 railcars packed with rides and all the paraphenalia it took to put on the spectacle.  Their carnies were easy to spot at that point.  Guys with greasy hair and cigarette packs rolled into the sleeves of their grimy white tee-shirts.  Crude tattoos running up their arms that were deep brown from a layer of  dust and spending their days in the full sun, tending to the machines that ran this carnival.  I always remember a tooth being absent in the smile of many of them.

These carnies would soon have all the rides assembled with their creaking  and spinning parts that didn’t give you the greatest feeling of confidence that they would remain intact as they whipped you through the hot summer nights.  They were adorned with flashing lights that raced all around the rides and many had blaring rock music to just add to the visceral overload of the experience.  I still associate the Foghat’s Free Ride with the Himalaya, one of the more popular rides at the fair.

Then there were the shows with their barkers, their voices crackling over their little speakers as they tried to lure you into see the Gatorboy or the World’s Smallest Horse or some poor hybrid creature (half chicken – half cat!) that you could hardly see and never moved, leaving you with a seed of doubt that it was even alive.  The barkers cajoled, they insulted, they prodded– whatever it took to get you into their tent. 

The biggest crowds were, of course, at the tent with the peep shows with the showgirls. They would parade out a girl with piled hair,  heavy makeup and a skimpy, glittery outfit to tempt the assembled men with the promise  of much more inside.  I was too young to go in and always wondered what really went on in there.  There was a book out several years ago (can’t remember the title or author)  that examined this cultural aspect, the county fair peepshow, and revealed that it was even more lurid than I imagined at the time.

I was a big games guy, trying to win the rich treasure trove of prizes they lured you with.  Off-off brand transistor radios.  Pepsi bottle vases with long stretched necks.  Ceramic unicorns.  More ashtrays than you can imagine.  Oh, I just had to win that stuffed snake doll!  And of course,  the games were almost impossible to win, with their tight, smaller than normal  rims that kicked out your basketball before it could find its way to the bottom.  Or the fruit baskets whose bottoms seemed like trampolines for the softballs you attempted to toss into them.

I could write and write about the fair.  The smells of the midway– Italian sausage and the sugary smell of taffy.  The sounds of the grandstand shows that wafted over the din — the country and rock acts that rolled into town for the day to play on the stage that stood on the inside of the track where harness racing had taken place earlier in the day.  And the people!  Oh, what folks you would see at the fair.  I could write pages and pages.

But I won’t.  Not now.  If you’ve been to a county fair, you have your own sensory memories that fill in the blanks.  If you haven’t been to one, go at least once.  On a hot August night.  But don’t look for me there.  I have enough memories to carry me through.

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Be Careful What You Wish…

Posted in Early Paintings, Favorite Things, Quote, tagged , , on August 2, 2010| 4 Comments »

More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones

— Mother Theresa

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This is a little piece that I did many years ago, one that never made it out of the studio.  A piece that is really for me.  It’s not a great piece of work, maybe not even good.  But it’s one of my personal favorites.  It’s informally called Be Careful What You Wish after the old adage: Be careful what you wish because you may just get it.  I always bear this saying in mind to remind myself that with everything there is a responsibility, a cost that may not be evident on its surface. 

Something we often fail to ponder when making wishes and decisions.  Unconsidered consequences.

Kind of like the story of the Monkey’s Paw, the old tale where a family receives a monkey’s paw from a friend who has just died.  The paw is a talisman with the supposedly mystical power to grant the holder three wishes.  The family wishes for money and their son is killed in a horrific accident and they  receive a large amount of money from his insurance policy.  After the funeral, they are stricken with grief and they wish for their son to be alive again.  Soon, there is a knock at their door.  It is their son–alive.  But still horribly mutilated and in extreme agony.  They use the third wish to wish him dead again.

Actually, this reminds me more of  Pandora’s Box, where Pandora is given a box (or jar, depending on how the story is told) by the god Zeus with the instructions to not open it under any circumstance.  Of course, she does.  immediately, all the evils in the world are released and in her panic, she slams the lid back down, trapping Hope in the box.

My little guy seems to be in the same situation.  In my mind, he was digging for things that were better left alone and they soon flew from the pit he had dug, even as he feverishly tried to refill the hole.  What exactly they are, I am not sure.  There is a giant that peeks from beneath a tree.  Perhaps they are demons.  Or regrets. Or lesser versions and aspects of the digger, things he has been keeping inside for all his life. 

 Things betters left alone.

Like many things, I am not sure.  Whatever the case, it remains a little painting that always triggers thought in me…

 

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August 1, 1936

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , , , on August 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I am always intrigued by symbolism and this date, August 1, marks a day and the start of an event in history that was filled with symbolism,  It was on this day, seventy four years ago,  that the 1936 Olympics held their opening ceremonies in Berlin in the Nazi Germany of Adolph Hitler. 

 Hitler used the event as a world showcase for his vision of Aryan dominance  and coordinated a spectacular ceremony that brought the Berliners to a feverish pitch as theyconstantly thrust their arms forward in the Nazi salute as their yells of “Heil” reverberated throughout the immense stadium.  The Nazis knew how to use symbolism and spectacle, that’s for sure.  Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia, was a spectacular documentary of the games put together by the same woman who brought the world perhaps the greatest piece of propaganda ever produced, The Triumph of the Will.  Both films used stark, powerful imagery and pageantry to convey a sense of power that overwhelms the screen.  One can’t watch them withour feeling a bit of awe, mixed with an uneasiness akin to fear.

Now on that day, as the teams of each nation made their way into the stadium they would pass the dais where Hitler and the Olympic officials sat.  Each team would dip their flag in deference to their host and the assembled team members would collectively turn their faces to the right, in the direction of the dais.  Many of the countries saluted in the Olympic manner which is very much like the Nazi salute except that instead of extending the arm forward, one extended their arm to the right.  Of course, the partisan Germans that made up the majority of the 100,000 or so of the crowd that day took this salute to be the Nazi gesture and voiced their pleasure at seeing it.  And to be sure, there were many who chose to honor the Fuhrer with the Nazi salute.  The Bulgarians even goose-stepped their way past the dais.

Symbolic of their opposition to the fascist regime and of what would take place in the next few years, the British assembly did not salute at all, simply turning their heads to the right as they passed.  To the credit of the United States our athletes did not salute as well , instead taking off their straw hats and placing them over their hearts.  And as we passed, our flag was held high, the only flag to do so that day.  It dipped for no one, which brought on a thunderous chorus of  derisive whistles.

Of course, this is the Olympics of Jesse Owens, the black American whose achievements on the track rattled the foundations of Hitler’s idea of Aryan supremacy.  Ironic, that he should strike such a symbolic blow against ridiculous ideas of racial supremacy even as he was being denied many basic rights in his own homeland.

Here’s a bit of the opening ceremonies with narration by Jesse Owens and the sounds and music of the actual ceremony:

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