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Archive for December, 2014

Putting Things in Perspective

Posted in Neat Stuff, tagged , on December 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

our-solar-system-in-perspectiveI cam across this wonderful graphic from San Francisco based artist/illustrator Roberto Ziche that does a wonderful job of contrasting the sizes of the planets in our solar system with our sun.  We earthlings are represented at the bottom by that tiny third marble from the left.  If you are tired of all of the dogma, ego and hubris you’re bombarded with on a daily basis, just take a glimpse at this and you’ll be reminded of how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of all things.

To give this even more impact, the graphic above doesn’t even deal with the vastness of the emptiness between the planets and the sun.  However, the graphic at the bottom gives us a little more perspective on this front.  You could take all of the other planets in our universe and they would fit in the space between our Earth and Moon.  With almost 5000 miles of room to spare.  We are tiny and far from most anything.

For some, the realization brought on from seeing this might be one of terror, of feeling powerless and miniscule.  That’s understandable but I don’t necessarily see it that way.

We are what we are and we exert influence in our own personal universe.  We may be but a single letter in a word in a sentence in a book in a  library in one city in one country in this entire universe but on that page in that book, our presence can be be vital, affecting everything surrounding us.

Regardless of the scale, we can be vehicles for positive action in our own small universes.

But if we begin to think that we are of more significance than any other letter or word on that page in that book in that library, we need only look at this image for a reminder of where we truly fit in.

You can get a high resolution 27.1 PNG version of the poster above at this site.

 

 

The distance between the Earth and the Moon filled with all of the other planets

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Big Eyes

Posted in At the Movies, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2014| 2 Comments »

Big Eyes Poster Tim BurtonI saw an ad last night for Big Eyes, the new film from director Tim Burton that stars Christopher Waltz and Amy Adams.  It is the story of Walter Keane, the man who built an empire from painting and marketing images of big-eyed waifs in the 1950′ and 60’s.  If you lived in that era, seeing some of Keane’s work was inevitable as it seemed to be everywhere.

I know that for me it is one of the first memories I have from that time of something close to art.  I wasn’t a fan– they made me uneasy, actually– but I couldn’t help notice their presence wherever I would look.

But the true story behind these paintings was the fact that Walter Keane only claimed to have painted the work.  It was actually the work of his second wife, Margaret.  Walter absorbed the accolades and celebrity as the work became more and more popular as it was mass produced and spread worldwide.  But Walter merely added his signature after Margaret had finished each painting in the basement of their home and claimed it as his own.

Eventually, this led to the breakup of their marriage.  Margaret then went public with the truth and for years, the couple had a public dispute over the authenticity and ownership of the work.  After Walter had published an article in the USA Today, this brought about a slander suit against him and the USA Today from Margaret.  The whole thing actually culminated in a proposed paint-off in the courtroom.  Walter declined, saying that his shoulder was injured.  Margaret painted for nearly an hour and won the verdict from the jury and a  4 million  dollar award.

Of course, she never saw a penny as Walter had sq1uandered much of the wealth generated from those sad big eyes.

I think this might be an interesting film.

 

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Two Lands

Posted in Neat Stuff, Photography, Video, tagged , , , , , , on December 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Joe Capra- Scientifantastic Greenland Ice

Photo by Joe Capra- Scientifantastic Greenland Ice

I was browsing through a few websites that I haven’t been able to keep up with lately and came across this video shot in Iceland and Greenland by photographer Joe Capra aka Scientifantastic.  Capra specializes in ultra  high definition time-lapse photography, cinematography and still photography and has traveled the world for his assignments for clients such as the National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.  It’s beautifully shot and lushly colored work that has earned Capra a reputation as one of the finest in his field.

This particular film was shot in Iceland and Greenland over the course of ten days as Capra sought to film the Aurora Borealis.  I found it very striking and found much in it that reminded me of some of my own work, particularly the shots that highlighted the starkness of the landscape and those where the color of the scene was transformed by the Northern Lights into odd shades and combinations.  Just a lovely short film with beautiful imagery, one in which I can find lots of inspiration.

For more info on Joe Capra and his work, click here.

Two Lands – Greenland | Iceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.

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The Red Chair in the Tree

Posted in Biographical, Influences, Personal Mythology, Recent Paintings, tagged , on December 9, 2014| 7 Comments »

GC Myers- Family Lines smDuring the openings for most of my shows, such as this past week’s opening at the Kada Gallery,   I inevitably get a number of questions about the meaning of the Red Chair especially when it’s suspended in a tree such as in the painting shown here from the show, Family Lines.  The empty chair itself is a simple and powerful symbol in many cultures of past ancestors or someone who is absent.  I have personally attached the concept of one’s own inner memory to it as well, seeing the chair as a distinct memory or myself in the narrative of that memory.  It is not always the same thing in each different circumstance.

But how it came to be aloft in the tree is a story that began when I was a kid.  I’ve told it innumerable times over the years but here it is:

Wilawana Road BarnGrowing up, we lived in the country in an isolated old farmhouse with an old barn across the road.  I happened to drive by the old place yesterday and snapped this photo of the old barn, now in a much more advanced stage of decay than when I was running around there.  It was pretty solid and complete at that earlier time.   In front of the barn, to the left of it here and out of the shot, is a large and old stone chimney, all that remains from the home of an early settler to the area, a stage coach driver who was killed there in an Indian raid in the late 18th century.  A small cemetery with old slate stones was nestled in the edge of the forest nearby. For a kid, it was a place filled with memory, a great place to play and let your imagination run wild.

One summer when I was 8 or 9 years old,  I came across a dead woodchuck laying next to the barn.  I don’t know how he died– he was just there.  Dead.  As the summer progressed and he dried out, a vine passed through his body and by summer’s end was suspended a couple of feet in the air.  To the eyes of a child this was something magical.  I was struck by the power of the earth to reclaim its creatures.  Everything seemed very ephemeral after that…

The idea of a tree growing through an object such as a chair, which is very representative of human existence, is a continuation of that early fascination.  It wasn’t until I had painted several pieces with the hanging chair that I began to also see the symbolism of the empty chair, which in some cultures represents the recently deceased.  That is what I see now– the family members who have passed on.  Again, this is my interpretation of this work.  I enjoy hearing what other people see in the work because many times it’s completely different from what I see but just as valid.  I often look at some pieces in a whole new light after hearing a new view.

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A Change is Gonna Come

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , on December 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Beyond the Blues smGreat opening night for my show, Into the Common Ground, this past Friday at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  Great crowd with a nice mix of people, old and new to my work.  Good questions and conversations.  Just a very successful show opening all the way around.

Many, many thanks to Kathy, Joe and Morgan at the Kada for making it such a wonderful night and making me feel like a part of the family there. Also, many thanks to everyone who came out and took part.  I can’t tell you how much it is appreciated.  And thanks to the weather for being relatively mild, a sometimes rare thing on the shores of Lake Erie in December.

Thank you!

Well. that being said, it is time for a little Sunday music.  I was thinking Otis Redding and that voice that I could listen to sing almost anything.  It’s hard to believe that in a few days it will 47 years since he was killed in a plane crash in 1967 at the age of 26.  Hard to imagine what might have come from this huge talent.  But he did leave behind an impressive legacy of music, including this great version of the Sam Cooke classic A Change is Gonna Come. It gives you something to think about on this Sunday morning.

Have a great day.

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Show Night at the Kada

Posted in Favorite Things, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on December 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Blessed in Blue smallI’ve been extraordinarily fortunate in my career to have had long and lasting relationships with several galleries that represent my work.  This coming February will mark 20 years at the West End Gallery in Corning, NY as well as 18 years with the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  It also marks my 19th year with the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.  Tonight’s show marks the 35th solo shows at these 3 galleries since the year 2000.

Each of these galleries is ran by people who I genuinely like and respect on a personal level which I think is the reason for the longevity of the relationships.  As a result, I always feel a responsibility to deliver the best possible show to each of these galleries.  A friend would do no less.

I hope that I have met that responsibility with the work for Into the Common Ground which opens tonight at the Kada Gallery.  Owners Kathy and Joe DeAngelo are two of the most decent and hard working people I have encountered in this or any other business.  Kathy has a tremendous enthusiasm for the work she displays, treating each piece with great care and respect.  She takes the time to really get to know the work, asking questions about the story behind each piece, and speaks authoritatively about it– all an artist can ask for in someone who shows their work.

Her enthusiasm is infectious.  When she calls me in the studio and I might be feeling a little worn down, I always hang up feeling upbeat and eager to get back at the paint.  Even after nearly 19 years of seeing my work she always seems excited by new pieces and that is a magical elixir for all artists.

So you can see why I desire my best for this show.  I know that this is a purely subjective opinion but I feel that I have done so this year.  It’s a show that clicks a lot of button for me but, again, that is not for me to say.  You will to just come out and judge for yourself.

The piece at the top, Blessed in Blue, is a 16″ by 20″ canvas, from the show.

 

 

 

 

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Expansion

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on December 4, 2014| 6 Comments »

GC Myers- Expansion smMan’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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This another new painting,  a 16″ by 20″ canvas titled Expansion, that is part of my show, Into the Common Ground, that opens tomorrow in Erie, PA at the Kada Gallery.

For me, this is a painting whose theme is centered on the expansion of one’s mind and vision, about moving to a higher plateau of feeling and taking a wider view of the world.  This involves leaving the mind open to new ideas with the hope that these new ideas bring some form of enlightenment and that the negatives– hatred, greed, anger and envy just to name a few–that we have held on to for so long will be replaced by more positive qualities–love, generosity and kindness.

I see this expansion in the way the Red Tree seems to be facing the far horizon with arms open, unashamed and willing to submit itself to change.  It stands among the alternating rows of the field which represent in this piece being trapped in the entrenched patterns of habit.  By that, I mean we all too often live without thought, going with the prevailing movement of the crowd and never taking the time to stop and consider why and what we are doing.  We accept things as they are without trying to contemplate the possibility of things being somehow different, never consider opening ourselves to a different way of seeing the world.

A different way of simply being.

And I see this possibility, this expansiveness,  in this simply composed piece.  It is a feeling that is calm and kind and embracing– ideas that we all will hopefully allow to stretch our own minds.

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“Into the Common Ground” Preview

Posted in Music, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , on December 2, 2014| 5 Comments »

Into the Common Ground/ GC MyersAs I have been mentioning here, my solo show, Into the Common Ground, is now at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA with an opening reception scheduled for this Friday, December 5.  Although it’s hard for me to be completely objective, I’m pleased with this show and think it’s a very strong show.  It clicks a lot of my boxes.

But again, that is my own biased opinion.  You can form your own opinion by taking a look at the video preview of the work in the show below.

Hope you’ll enjoy and if you’re in Erie this Friday, please stop in at the Kada Gallery and say hello.

 

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Delicate Balance

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on December 1, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Delicate Balance smMy solo exhibit, Into the Common Ground, opens at the Kada Gallery in Erie this Friday, December 5th.  While much of my work centers on the unique voice of the individual, the theme of this show is about finding those common bonds and experiences that we share with others.

Actually, I’ve always thought that my work succeeds when it communicates as a mix of those two things– individual expression of a common theme or emotion.  Art for me is communication, about reaching out and finding validation in my own humanity through contact with others.  I  feel that art should be expansive, not exclusive or reserved for wealthy insiders.  While art is often an inward search, it should always be reaching out to engage the world.

And maybe that is what I see here in this new painting, Delicate Balance.  Creating work that reaches out and finds common ground is a sometimes delicate balance.  It comes down to identifying what is really at the base of what you are or hope to be as a human and pushing aside those negative feelings– envy, greed and hate among many other negatives– that cloud your judgement.

Its not always an easy thing to accomplish.  That bridge across to others can be sometime wobbly.  But when it does happen, that simple crossing seems like the 8th wonder of the world. A miracle.

 

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