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Survivor

Posted in Current Events, Influences, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , , , , on August 6, 2015| 3 Comments »

Hiroshima Survivor Bonsai US National Arboretum

Today is the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb being exploded over Hiroshima.  I am not looking to get into an exploration of whether it was right or wrong, don’t want to justify or condemn the decision.

It happened.  And with horrifying effectiveness.

No, instead of focusing on our ability to destroy I would rather today feature a story of natural endurance and beauty.  I am talking about the now 390 year-old bonsai tree, shown above, that now resides at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC.  It has made it intact through the centuries of history including surviving the Hiroshima blast which took place less than two miles from its then home.

It started its life on the Japanese island of Miyajima back in 1625.  Think about that.  Here, we were five years into the Plymouth colony, still struggling to gain our footing in this land while on an island half a world away this tree was beginning its life.  And since that time, this tree has received constant daily care, allowing it to thrive and live well beyond the life expectancy of a normal bonsai.

At some point in its life, this rare tree came into the possession of the Yamaki family which ran a commercial bonsai nursery for several generations near Hiroshima.  It was at this location when the bomb exploded.  The tree was sheltered by a wall and the blast fortunately only caused minor injuries to the family, mainly lacerations from flying glass.

In 1976, bonsai master Masaru Yamaki donated the prized tree as part of the Japanese people’s gift to the U.S. in recognition of our Bicentennial.  It has lived the last 39 years, one tenth of its existence, at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum. It has witnessed the world changing in so many ways yet it stands still.

Serene and beautiful. With our care.

Let us hope that we begin to realize that we gain so much more by nurturing this world than through destruction.

Just look to the tree…

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Gallery Talk Today (With Prizes!)

Posted in Biographical, Current Events, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , on August 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers Destiny Bound framedIn everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.

—Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder

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If you’re in the Corning area this afternoon, I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery beginning at 1 PM.  My talks usually consist of some biographical background, a few stories about the paintings as well as some other things and honest answers to any questions asked of me.  Oh, and it comes to an end with a drawing for the painting above, Destiny Bound.

I try to make it as entertaining and informative as possible, usually just speaking off the cuff.  Sometimes there is a theme, other times there is not.  I may have a theme for today and perhaps the quote from author Raymond Chandler points to what it might be. Or not.  Maybe I just like and agree with this quote.  Or maybe the talk will go ina completely different direction right from the start.

I won’t know until I’m standing there and open my mouth for the first time.  These talks are kind of like my painting– sometimes I have an idea of where I want them to go and they go to a place I never saw coming.  And sometimes those unexpected places are the most gratifying.  So, we’ll see where we end up today.

Hope you can make it.

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In the Moment of Grace

Posted in Current Events, Music, Opinion, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , on June 28, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- In the Moment of GraceThis is a new piece, an 18″ by 24″ painting on panel, that  is part of my upcoming show at the West End Gallery.  It is titled In the Moment of Grace.  Fittingly, it was finished in the time that I listened to President Obama‘s stirring eulogy for the victims of the Charleston tragedy on Friday in which he pulled its theme from the classic hymn Amazing Grace.  Although I was already fully invested in  this painting, that fact added so much more meaning to it for me.

That eulogy was the culmination of a remarkable and historic week, one that found the Supreme Court issuing decisions that upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and made Gay Marriage a right throughout the nation.  And if that wasn’t enough, the Confederate flag finally came down in South Carolina, though it took the act one young black woman willing to be imprisoned for her civil disobedience rather than the act of an intransigent State House and Senate.  The President’s words over the fallen in South Carolina framed the end of this week perfectly.

Amazing Grace.

Despite the wonder of it all, I know there is much more to be done and more conflicts to be faced in the struggle for equality and fairness for all.  That is the nature of change and change is the nature of America.  And I think that is the point that is missed by so many of those who hold so tightly onto the past,  those people who say that they want “their country” back: America is not a monolith, not owned by one group or region and cannot be defined by one thing, person, place or time.

That is its strength.  Like a great work of art, it lives always in the present.  And the present is an inclusive and shifting prism, a kaleidoscope or, yes, a rainbow of diverse people who make up this nation.  It has eventually always made room for all who sought to live in that light and it is that spirit of inclusion that separates us from the rest of the world.  Tolerance unifies a disparate people and brings us closer to grace.

As I said, there are many more hurdles to be overcome, more work to be done.  I could continue preaching here for a while but I wish to just sit back for a moment and relish the present.  So, for this Sunday morning music I thought a little Amazing Grace would be appropriate.  Her is a truly beautiful version from Judy Collins and the Boys Choir of Harlem, sung on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Have a good Sunday and reflect for a moment on this remarkable week.

 

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I Loves You Porgy

Posted in Current Events, Music, Opinion, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Cabbage Row- Catfish Row Charleston SCFirst things first, a happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there, including my own living down in Florida.  I was going to say more about him today and some recent cognition troubles he’s been experiencing but I think I will keep it simple and just send out my wishes for a Happy Father’s Day.

Being Sunday, it’s time for some Sunday Morning Music.  I was going to play something with a father-y theme but this week’s tragic event down in Charleston has been on my mind.

In the late 1980’s, my parents lived  for a couple years on one of the sea islands outside of Charleston so we were able to visit a few times.  It was hard not to embrace the place with all its charms, its people and history always on display.  I’ve had a soft spot for that area ever since and when the Principle Gallery opened a new location there two years ago I was thrilled in that it might give me an excuse to visit that place once more.

So when a hate-filled , weak-minded coward given  power through a gun takes the lives of nine innocent people in that city, I am filled a multitude of emotions.  Sadness for the families and friends of those victims, for the city itself and for this nation that seems to accept this type of tragedy more and more as the norm.  Anger at the killer and at ridiculous hatred he possesses.  Anger at the societal mindset that incubates or tolerates this hatred, especially in a state where the Confederate flag brazenly flies about the state capital.  Anger at those people who believe that this is somehow “their”country and that it is their duty to somehow take it back.  Anger at politicians who give lip service but little else in the aftermath, only looking to put the event in a perspective that suits their own agenda.

How many more times will we tolerate this?  Many, many more I am sure because there is no easy answer here, no magic pill that wipes away racism, especially in a society where the constant thinly-veiled racism shown  in the contempt and disrespect for our president is accepted as the normal.  We can’t continue the way we have int he past, simply accepting this as the everyday event it is quickly becoming.  We must not tolerate intolerance. We must choose to change.

But Charleston will survive, will get past this time as it has so many other dark days.  This morning I am playing a song that has a foot in those earlier days of Charleston.  It’s a song from George and Ira Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess based on the Dubose Heyward novel, Porgy, set in the the real Cabbage Row area of Charleston.  This became Catfish Row in the story so that it could be relocated to the seafront.  The photo above with the Catfish Row sign is the actual site of Cabbage Row where families of freed slaves lived in the late 1800’s and ealry 1900’s, selling cabbage from the windowsills.

The song is I Loves You, Porgy from the late and oh so great Nina Simone.  She was one of the greatest and most distinct interpreters of song ever.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard her sing anything that didn’t become hers once it was sang.  This song is a tour de force among many version of it from a wide range of singers. Enjoy and have a great Sunday and a great Father’s Day.

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Really Abstract (Prices)

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , , , on May 12, 2015| 3 Comments »

pablo_picasso_les_femmes_d_alger_ Photo by ChristiesThis is Les Femmes d’Alger (Version “O’), a 1955 painting from artist Pablo Picasso.  It created quite a stir yesterday when it became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction when it went for a cool $179.36 million at Christie’s.

And while that might seem like an unfathomable amount of money to pay for any piece of art- or a small town for that matter- it is only the tip of the iceberg for extravagance in the recent art market.  At the same auction, a life size sculpture, Pointing Man, from Alberto Giacometti became the most expensive sculpture sold at auction when it fetched $143.3 million.

Paul Gauguin- When Will You Marry?

Paul Gauguin- When Will You Marry?

And keep in mind that these records are for pieces sold in auction, not those sold privately by dealers or other collectors.  In February, When Will You Marry? from Paul Gauguin sold privately for a whopping $300 million to a Swiss collector.  There are rumors of many other similar private sales with fantastic sums of money attached.

It’s always interesting to see the prices that these pieces bring and how we, the public, respond to these over the top sales, almost like a cheering crowd at the big game rooting the bidders to go ever higher.  We do like a spectacle. The shame is that the focus becomes all about the money and less about the artwork.  But then again, these big sales really have little to do with the actual art.  These exhibits of extreme affluence have become performance art in themselves with the artwork a mere prop that acts as a catalyst in setting off a series of actions that result in prices that boggle the mind of the average person.  It’s the Picasso and Gauguin now.  In time they will be replaced by a new crop of props designed to set off the same reactive chain.

Do I believe these works deserve these incredible prices?  Well, I do believe they are great pieces of art, high in the pantheon of art history with stories behind them that deserve telling.  They would be great without those prices attached to them.  No, these prices aren’t the value of the work itself– they are the price someone is willing to pay to attach their own name and ego to the history of the piece.

It’s kind of a reverse provenance.  Normally, an artist’s work is validated and gains value when it becomes part of a prestigious collection.  In this scenario, it is the collector who is trying to gain prestige and validation through the attainment of the artwork.  And at the moment, the going price to get that kind of thing is well over a 100 mil.

I think both Picasso and Gauguin would be more than a little amused at these prices.  And probably a little pissed off that they missed out on this kind of loot in their own lifetimes. For myself, I don’t give a damn what someone else paid for the work.  I would prefer that someone with those kind of resources would try to use them in helping others rather than conspicuously consuming but that is not my decision, is it?

In the end, it is what it is, as they say…

 

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Nepal

Posted in Current Events, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2015| 1 Comment »

Nepalese man Trapped in Rubble Photo by Narandra ShrestaIt’s been heartbreaking to see the tragedy taking place in Nepal as a result of a massive 7.8 earthquake and subsequent huge aftershocks that rocked this Himalayan nation over the weekend. I’ve never been to Nepal and there is a good chance that I may never see it but I feel a small connection to this distant nation through my work, which hung in the American Embassy in Kathmandu for several years.  Plus, I have met a number of folks who have been there and they always speak of their experiences there in glowing terms.

It’s hard to even imagine the destruction caused when a chunk of the planet about 35 miles wide and 75 miles long is suddenly shifted 10 feet.  But the images coming from Kathmandu fill in the blanks– tremendous physical damage, horrible injuries and mounting loss of lives– over 3700 as of this morning and sure to keep rising.  Rescue efforts continue but it is a hard slog given the lack of resources and the remoteness and relative inaccessibility of Nepal.

Maju Deval Temple, Kathmandu- Before and After Earthquake

Maju Deval Temple, Kathmandu- Before and After Earthquake

There were also cultural tragedies, including the total destruction of the Maju Deval Temple in Kathmandu.  It was built in 1690 and had survived beautifully through the previous 325 years until the quake reduced it to a pile of rubble as seen in the photo above. On Mt. Everest, there is still no true accounting of the total number of climbers and guides lost when the quake caused massive avalanches in the high peaks.

It can be frustrating, watching a tragedy such as this from such a long distance.  We want to help but there seems to be so little that we can do from half a world away.  But there are reputable charities that are geared up just to help in situations such as these, having resources ready to go in a very short time and their people on the ground in the devastated areas within hours.

And they need your help in order to help others.

There is a local Nepalese charity called the Soarway Foundation, that was created in part by the honorable Scott DeLisi, our former ambassador to Nepal and a man who I have had the honor of corresponding with over the past several years. They have an infrastructure in place in that nation and any money donated will have an immediate impact on the earthquake’s victims.

Two other of my personal favorites are Oxfam and Americares, both of which take very little from your donations for things like administration and fundraising.  Both are very quick to action also.. And of course, there is the Red Cross, although most donations go into a general fund to help around the world.

So give if you can to this nation that needs a helping hand at this time.

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At the Kada

Posted in Current Events, tagged , , , on April 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Warm Welcome sm

GC Myers- Warm Welcome

Just a reminder that I will be in Erie, PA today for a Gallery Talk at the Kada Gallery.  The event starts at 12 noon a and the talk itself begins at 1 PM followed by a Q&A session.  Then come the free drawing for  one of my original paintings as well as a few other assorted  goodies.  Along with the talk and the drawing,  I am showing a new group of work, including the painting shown above, a 30″ by 40″ canvas called Warm Welcome.

Hope you can make it to the Kada Gallery today– I’ll be doing my best to make it a fun and interesting day!  And maybe you can take the painting  shown below home with you for just writing your name on a slip of paper!

Win This Painting Today at the Kada Gallery!

Win This Painting Today at the Kada Gallery!

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Beyond Color

Posted in Current Events, Video, tagged , , , , on February 18, 2015| 2 Comments »

Foreign Affairs mar Apr Cover 2015I have mentioned my niece, Sarah Foster, here in the past for her exploits as a talented dancer and choreographer in NYC. But she has another form of her talent that showed itself recently in her day job with Foreign Affairs magazine. That is that of a video editor.  The coming March/April issue of the prestigious magazine deals with the issue of race and has images of  the faces from a group of people from all races all set against backdrops that match their skin tones.

Sarah produced  a very fine video for the magazine explaining the backstory behind these images, which is the work of  Brazilian photographer Angélica Dass.  She  an ongoing and open-ended project called Humanae which has her photographing people of all races from around the globe.   So far over 2500 subjects on five continents have participated.

All are photographed in exactly the same circumstances– the same distance, the same light and exposure.  She then matches the color from their nose to the Pantone color system, an international standard for color matching, and makes the backdrop that color.   She then labels each with the Pantone code and number.   The result is a wonderful and powerful examination of how we define race by colors that really don’t exist.

Humanae Image of Angelica DassThe video feature a telephone interview with Dass ( shown here on the left–she’s Pantone 7522 C) who explains her project.  The video is a great accompaniment to it, giving you a taste of many images.

Great work.  Well done, Sarah!!

For more info on Angélica Dass and the Humanae Project click here.

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Purpose

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , on January 12, 2015| 2 Comments »

RippleI wrote the essay below earlier this morning and almost deleted it.  But a while later, I decided that by doing this, by simply not commenting, I would be acting in the exact manner that I was advising against in those paragraphs.  The world is changing, sometimes in awful ways, and it is our duty to speak up and define the world in which we want to live.  So, as an act of responsibility to myself, I decided to hit the button to publish it.

Here it is:

The idea of having a purpose in life has been on my mind a lot lately.  Of course, this has been spurred on by the images of the many disaffected youths who have joined radical religious groups around the world, resulting in terrible acts of violence in the name of a distorted version of god’s law, like those we experienced this past week in France.

It seems  that so many of these youths have never sensed a forward direction in their lives or felt a sense of hope for their future.  They do not feel to be a part of their immediate world and have lost all trust in their own ability to create a life of purpose for themselves and, as a result, they allow others to step in and define their purpose and future, however destructive and hate-filled it might be.

Now, that’s incredibly broad and simplistic, I know.  But I can tell you from personal experience that having no sense of being, no sense of purpose in your existence, leaves you with a bitter anger on a road leading to destructive behavior, for your self and others.

So, if this is the case for many, what is the answer?  How do you give a sense of purpose to these kids without hope?  How do you give them a sense of worth and belonging?

I don’t know what the answer might be– there are so many of these kids in so many difficult environments that it can seem daunting.  I do know what will not work– pretending that it is not our problem and that it will somehow resolve of it’s own accord.  Do that and you will wake up some day in the near future wondering why these events that once only happened in places like Paris, Syria and Nigeria are taking place in cities near you.  With the inequality and rising rates of poverty in this country, we are sowing the seeds of hopelessness that could someday grow into the same scenarios we are seeing abroad.

So, what do we do?  Whatever you can do to make your own little isolated corner of the world a better place.  Be generous in spirit and inclusive in nature.  It may only seem like a pebble being thrown into a huge lake but the ripples of many splashes eventually creates a wave that might sweep across the entire lake.

I know that sounds almost moronically simple.  But sometimes simple is all we have.  We can’t all just around wait for someone to throw a big stone into that lake.  Throw your pebble.

Maybe that is your purpose.

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A Dangerous Time

Posted in Current Events, Video, tagged , , , , , on January 11, 2015| 2 Comments »

Ostrich-man-head-in-sandI’ve been sitting for over an hour or more at the computer, writing a whole thing this morning about the events in Paris as well as those horrific things taking place in Nigeria at the hand of the Boko Haram that make the Charlie Hebdo slayings pale by comparison.  But I decided against posting it, instead opting for for this:

We live in a dangerous time and we cannot live with our heads in the sand.

History has shown us that we must live with vigilance and resolve against those who will try to dictate how we must live.  It might seem hyperbolic and far removed but the longer we ignore it and pretend that it will not affect us, the closer it comes to realization.

For my music on this Sunday morning, I have chosen a scene from the movie Casablanca that is fittingly symbolic for what I have said above.  In this scene, the occupying German entourage at Rick’s Cafe are singing the German anthem boisterously.  The French resistance fighter Victor Laszlo furiously rushes to the house band to have them play the French anthem La Marseillaise in response.  The club’s patrons respond with a unity that drowns out the German voices.

There are perhaps a million folks marching in the streets of Paris today in solidarity against the actions of the terrorists, their voices raised in the hope of drowning out the noise of the terrorists who threaten them.  They have been awakened and are finding their resolve.

They have pulled their heads from the sand.

Take note and try to have a great Sunday.

 

 

 

 

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