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Archive for the ‘Painting’ Category

Native Voice

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on June 3, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Native Voice smThis is the painting, a 24″ by 48″ canvas, that spawned the title of my show, Native Voice, that opens this Friday at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.

I’ve been struggling to describe what I mean by the term native voice.  I think we all have a native voice, a quality that reflects the true self that comes out of us naturally, unguarded and without thought.  It is in the way we speak with family and friends, in the rhythm and manner of our words.  It is in our local accent and vernacular.

It reflects the people and places and events that shaped us, all blending together in one unique package that bears our unique fingerprint and signature.  We might be able to mask these things temporarily but our native voice is always near the surface, ready to emerge.

Applying this to painting, I see this native voice as being the way an artist naturally fashions a painting, in how they perceive the world and describe it to others through their work.  It is that state of being when pretense is put aside, conscious thought diminished, and the process becomes intuitive and reactive, each reaction coming naturally.  I would describe it in the way a child might paint when left to their own devices– pure and expressive.

I think this show bears this title well.  I know that it feels natural and true to myself.  I tried to not focus on concepts or themes as I painted, just let the work fall out as it would.  As a result, when I delivered the show this past Saturday, I had a hard time describing much of it to the folks at the gallery.  How do you describe something that is just a part of you, something that just is?

Now I doubt that this comes anywhere close to expressing what I see in that term Native Voice.  But like talking to friends or family, if you are attuned to what I do with my work  you’ll probably understand my native voice.  If not, you’ll most likely think I’m that strange guy walking down the street muttering to himself.

And that’s okay, too.

 

 

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“Native Voice” Preview

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 2, 2015| 4 Comments »

This is a short video previewing some of the work that is part of my Native Voice show that is opening this Friday, June 5, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  The opening reception runs from 6:30 until 9 PM and is open to the public.  This is a show that has some real visual oomph in its colors and textures and while I think the work shows well on the computer screen, it definitely comes across better in person.  So if you’re in the DC/Alexandria area on Friday evening, please stop in and see the work in person and say hello.

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Nova Harmonia

Posted in Opinion, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on June 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Nova Harmonia smThis painting, a 16″ by 40″ canvas, is another piece from the Native Voice show and is titled Nova Harmonia.  That loosely translates as New Harmony but it doesn’t really anything to do with the short-lived 19th century Utopian community of that name in Indiana although the utopian aspect might apply.

The feeling and theme of the piece is very much about the concept of living in harmony with the forces of the world around us and that might seem like some far-fetched utopian concept to some.  And that’s  a shame because this coexistence we share with the earth should be something that we naturally accept and make part of our lives.  Far too many think of the earth as being something that we dominate, a servant– no, a slave– that provides us with a never-ending supply of fuel, food and everything else we can strip from it.

But that is so wrong in so many ways, mainly in its hubris, greed and short-sightedness.  We are temporary tenants here on a world that has seen many species and civilizations come and go before us. one that will be still revolving around that sun long after we are but a distant memory.

Instead, it should be viewed as our partner or our ward, something that we watch over with care and respect in exchange for the great bounty it has provided.  Perhaps it will allow us to inhabit its richness for a bit longer that way.

That’s the message I glean from this painting.  It has an optimism and unity that I find reassuring and hopeful.  In short, this painting makes me feel good.

As I said above, this piece is at the Principle Gallery for my Native Voice show which opens Friday, June 5.

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À La Mer

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- À La Mer smIt was a good trip down to Alexandria yesterday.  I was there to deliver the the work for my show, Native Voice, which opens this coming Friday, June 5, at the Principle Gallery there on historic King Street.

It’s always a good feeling to get the work safely into the gallery for any show.  There’s a sense of relief  in this step in the process of letting the work move on to their new lives but there is also a bit of excitement in seeing the work in the gallery environment, to have the staff get their first look and to see how the work itself looks within the space.

For the entire time I have shown with the Principle Gallery, in my 19th year now, the walls of the main gallery space were painted in a burnt orange color, one that really highlighted and complemented the color of my work and may have even, in some small way, influenced the direction of my work’s color palette over the years. But a freshening makeover of the space this past year brought a new wall color, a slightly warm shade of white.

At my first look at it in September, I was fearing that the color would be too cool, too stark.  But seeing it again yesterday, alleviated those concerns and it seems to have gained warmth and I am excited to that the new work, mostly deeply colored with a number of larger pieces, will definitely pop on the new walls.  In fact, the wall color is not to far removed from the wall color of the Fenimore Art Museum gallery where my work hung in 2012 and I was very pleased with how that worked out.

One of those pieces is the one shown at the top, a 24″ by 24″ painting on linen that I call À La Mer which translates from the French as To the Sea.  I like the mix of motion and stillness in this piece with its sky that could almost be an extension of the sea’s movement with ripples of color running through it.  There’s just something tranquil in the way the eye moves toward the sea in this piece, a feeling that very much reminds me of the tone of the old French song La Mer (The Sea) which is better known here in the US by the wonderful version in English from Bobby Darin, Beyond the Sea.

So, of course, for this Sunday’s musical selection I have chosen a version of La Mer, this one by French Canadian singer Chantal Chamberland.  I hope you’ll enjoy it and take that feeling into the rest of your day.  Have a great Sunday!

 

 

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Clair de Lune

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 29, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Clair de Lune smI was going to take a day off from the blog.  After all, it’s the final day in the studio for the work in my solo show, Native Voice,  that will be heading down to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria tomorrow.  This is always both a day filled with stress and great relief.  There is still much to do on this day but in what seems like an instant it is suddenly done and I let out a great sigh of satisfaction in that the task has been completed, which is always easier when I feel good about the work that I am doing and that is the case with this show.

So the idea of taking the day off on this busy day was appealing.  But I wanted to really show this piece, a 24″ by 30″ canvas that I call Clair de Lune after the famous DeBussy piece.  I was searching for a title for this painting and was stuck, wanting to steer it away from references to the blue hues in it, when this song came up on the Pandora station to which I was listening.  It was a version by pianist Michael Dulin.  As the music played , I could almost see it meshing with the colors of this painting, the calming tones of the music resting easily in the blues and greens of it.

It just felt right. It fit.  So give a listen and take a look.  Maybe you’ll see what I saw.  Now it’s back to work for me– much to do before I travel tomorrow.

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The Animating Presence

Posted in Biographical, Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , on May 28, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- The Anmating Presence smSometimes I am a little hesitant in showing certain paintings here on the blog.  Sometimes their photographed images just don’t fully convey the impact or depth of the work.

Take the painting shown above for an example.  Titled The Animating Presence, it produces a strong  initial impact with its large size– 20″ by 60″ on canvas— and its deep colors and textures.  The photo captures the colors (although not the depth within the colors) and a mere fraction of the texture but the  power in its size is lost on the smaller screen.  It is still a strong image but most people would be surprised at how truly different the actual painting comes across in person.

I showed this painting here a few months back in an early stage, shown now at the bottom.  The landscape was laid out in the red oxide paint I use for my underpainting and the sky with its first several layers of color, the emotional atmosphere of the piece beginning to take shape.  Many, many more layers produced the sky as it now looks above.  There are layers that are almost completely obscured, perhaps with only a tiny glimmer of it coming through here and there.  Looking at it, you may not be aware of it but its presence is vital to me, giving the whole thing the depth and life force that I seek in it.

And maybe that last sentence is a good way of explaining the title, The Animating Presence.  The more I worked on this piece, the more I began to feel as though the Red Tree was in some sort of communion with a greater power in this painting, represented by the light breaking over the horizon.

This is always a hard thing to explain for me.  As I have explained in the past, I was not brought up with religion of any sort.  I was never indoctrinated in any sort of system of faith, never led to have either belief or disbelief.  I was just here, neither a believer or an atheist.  But looking at the world I had a sense that there was something more, some unseen source of power that sparked all life and consciousness.  It wasn’t a benevolent god sitting on a throne in some heaven pulling the strings on human events and listening to our prayers.  No, it was more a matter of physics and light and energy, an unseen force that permeated everything– an animating presence.

Now, a couple of hundred words can’t really sum up the whole of  what I am describing or even what I see in this painting.  But it is this struggle to come to terms with this idea of that presence that I see in this painting.  That like those unseen layers of paint in the sky which give depth to the painting, one’s life is given meaning by an unseen force that we may never fully know or understand.

You can see this painting at the Principle Gallery at my Native Voice show,

2015-gc-myers-wip animating presence

 

 

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Eureka

Posted in Influences, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on May 26, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- EurekaI am in the final days of prep work for my upcoming show, Native Voice, at the Principle Gallery, which opens next Friday, June 5.  This will be my 16th show at the Alexandria gallery so my routine in finishing up in these few last days is pretty set.  Even so, it’s a hectic rush to get everything done.  For instance, even as I am framing I am still finishing up my final photography of the work.

For instance, just this morning I shot the 24″ by 30″ painting on canvas shown at the top.  I had photographed it before but the lighting  coupled with the blue tones made it a less than desirable photo, not really representative of the actual painting. But this one seems to hit the mark, capturing the blues in their actuality.

I call this painting Eureka.  The word is from the Greek, meaning “I have found it ” and was most famously attributed to Archimedes who upon sitting in a hot bath noticed that his body displaced an equal volume of water which meant that the volume of irregular objects could then be accurately measured.  That was not an easy thing to do around 250 BC.

But over the years, the word eureka has come to signify any great moment of discovery.  California uses it as their state motto after its use in the gold strikes of the mid 19th century.

In this painting, the bursting light which forms a corona around the Red Tree signifies a moment of  great recognition of some heretofore hidden truth, a discovery that forever alters one’s perspective of the world and their place in it.  It was not painted with this intent but the fact that the light is bursting from out of the blue of the sky is no small coincidence.  That is how these eureka moments normally reveal themselves– unannounced with little forewarning.

I’ve been fortunate to have one or two of these moments.  Well, one for sure.  And in that instance, I certainly felt like I was suddenly standing ablaze in the darkness that had surrounded me.  This piece really captures that instance for me.

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Concordia

Posted in Painting, Personal Mythology, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on May 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers-Concordia smThe title of this new painting, 36″ by 36″ on canvas. is Concordia, which is a Latin word for harmony as well as the name of the Roman goddess of harmony.  It translates literally as with one heart which I felt was really appropriate for this piece based on the role that the Red Tree has played in my career.

The beginning of the Red Tree is often asked about at the gallery talks I give and I usually just describe the chronology of its emergence in my work, how it was little more than a compositional element in the beginning, something that brought a central focus to the painting.  But describing what the Red Tree has evolved into for myself over the years in terms of its meaning is sometimes difficult to explain in the moment at these talks.

Yes, it is still a mere element that brings the eye to the center around which everything else in the painting more or less revolves.  In that respect, it is the sun in its own solar system.  But over time I have come to recognize that the Red Tree is the exposed heart of my work, the emotional center that speaks out to the world in a way I never could as myself.

It is a heart that seeks harmony in its existence, to be at one with the world.

With one heart.

Concordia.

________

This painting will be part of my solo show Native Voice which opens two weeks from today, June 5,  at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria. VA.

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Solitude and Reverence

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on May 15, 2015| 4 Comments »

Myers- Solitude and ReverenceSilence and solitude seem to be the theme this week on the blog.  Well, most weeks, I guess. Today, I am featuring a new painting that will be part of my Native Voice exhibit opening three weeks from today on June 5  at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  It is a 24″ by 36″ canvas and is titled Solitude and Reverence.

It’s a painting that has really hung with me here in the studio, my gaze often going to it through the day as I work on other things.  There’s a sense of fullness and completeness, a quality I can’t fully describe here,  in it that pleases me, that makes me want to study it and absorb it a bit longer.

Perhaps it is because I feel that this painting is even more personal and self-referential, seeing myself as the Red Tree, isolated in the solitude of my work which is symbolized by the field rows between me and the  houses and road in the foreground.  It is a pleasant isolation, a voluntary withdrawal from the rest of the world.

I suppose I should say the world of man because there is no withdrawal from the world.  In fact, there is a more intimate relationship with the natural world which brings about the reverence referred to in the title.  I see it in this painting in the landscape spreading out in the distance and the radiating light and color of the sky which seems symbolic of the greater power and mystery of the natural world.

I sit here now and there is so much more I could write about this piece but it all seems so futile when I can just look at it, knowing everything in a glance that I could struggle for hours to say so poorly with words.

And maybe that is the message here– that we should simply shut up and take in the world in a reverent quietude.

I will do that now…

 

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Epiphany

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on May 11, 2015| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Epiphany smI call this new painting, an 18″ by 18″ canvas,  Epiphany.  There’s just something in the way the Red Tree stands against the burst of light in the sky behind it that reminds me  of those rare moments of  revealed insight, when you realize something that forever changes your perception of the world and perhaps sends you down an unexpected new path.

This was an interesting piece to paint, one that evolved in a different way than most of my work.  As it built from the bottom, the sky was painted in a transparent deep yellow wash.  IT was okay but it just didn’t have that sense of rightness, didn’t fill the emotional void that was present.  So I blacked out the sky and went to my other process of building up the paint which is unusual for me as I seldom mix the two processes except in detail work.

The sky took on a greater role with this incarnation, becoming the engine that moved the piece forward.  As I finished the work on the Red Tree, the corona of light around its crown took on an almost religious aspect and the whole thing began to look like a stylized portrait of a saint with a halo and red cloak.  And that made the title seem even a bit more appropriate, using a different definition of the word where epiphany is used to describe a manifestation of the divine– a supernatural being.

And maybe that is what all epiphanies are– manifestations of the divine.  I have had a  moment or two in my life that I view as epiphanies. Whether they truly were is subject to debate– they certainly were personal breakthroughs in perception– but in those moments I certainly felt closer to some sort of  divinity than I ever had before.  And that’s what I am reminded of in this piece — the blood red of the physical earth and tree becoming one with the ethereal in the light of the sky.

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