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Archive for the ‘Quote’ Category

Ever Reaching

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , on October 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers Ever ReachingThree Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

–Albert Einstein

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This Einstein is a pretty smart guy.

 Simplification, harmony and opportunity could be  ingredients for any recipe to success in any field but I think they apply particularly well to art.  I know that I can easily apply these three rules to my own work.

For me, its strength lies in its ability to transmit through simplification and harmony.  The forms are often simplified versions of reality, shedding details that don’t factor into what it is trying to express.

There is often an underlying texture in the work that is chaotic and discordant.  The harmonies in color and form painted over these create a tension, a feeling of wholeness in the work.  A feeling of finding a pattern in the chaos that makes it all seem sensible.

And the final rule–opportunity lying in the midst of difficulty– is perhaps the easiest to apply.  The best work always seems to rise from the greatest depths, those times when the mind has to move from its normal trench of thought.  Times when it has to find new ways to move the message ahead.   The difficulties of life are often great but there is almost always an opportunity or lesson to be found within them if only we are able to take a deep breath and see them.  These lesson always find their way into the work in some way.

Thanks for the thought, Mr. Einstein.

The painting above is called Ever Reaching, a new 16″ by 20″ canvas that is part of my upcoming show at the Kada Gallery in early December.

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Winding Through

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on October 10, 2014| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Winding Through smJourneys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will-whatever we may think.

-Lawrence Durrell

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This new painting, Winding Through, is making its own journey, heading out to the Just Looking Gallery in San Luis Obispo, CA along with a group of other new work.  The idea of journeying, inwardly and outwardly, is very much the theme of this  36″ by 24″ canvas and the above quote from Lawrence Durrell fits well with this theme.

We can set a course for a destination and make all sorts of plans toward arriving at that endpoint.  But plans seldom account for the obstacles encountered along the way and the way in which we react to and are changed by them.  These reactions and changes mold us, create a new version of ourselves.  And despite our best intentions to remain true to the course we set earlier, we may find our new selves on a completely different path headed to a very different endpoint, sometimes much better or worse than that originally intended.

But occasionally, we wind our way through the obstacles and changes and find ourselves at a place where we had hoped to be right from the start.  We are much different than we began as a result of the journey and how we see that endpoint may be slightly different than we first imagined.  In fact, it may only seem like our original endpoint because as we adapted to the bumps of the road our endpoint adjusted as well, moving to coincide with the lessons we were learning along the way.

We become what we are to become.

This is only a quick, early morning reading of what I see here.  Off hand, I can think of hundreds, maybe thousands, of exceptions and additions to the paragraphs above.  I may not even agree with it by the end of the day.

But that, too, is part of the journey…

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Change

Posted in Biographical, Early Paintings, Quote, Technique/History, tagged , , , on October 3, 2014| 2 Comments »

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

~Henri Bergson

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GC Myers 1994 Early Work Illustrative Styling

If you have read this blog for some time, you probably have noticed that I periodically like to revisit old work, especially those early pieces from when I was still in the process of finding voice.  It’s an interesting period for me to look at because the changes were coming fast, sometimes on what seemed to be a daily basis, as new things were tried, some sparking new directions and some being quickly set aside.

It was a much different set of circumstances than the way I currently work.  It was a period of fast and furious fireworks, little pops and crackles with every step forward where today it is quieter for periods of time followed by louder booms.  I don’t know if I can explain that any better and am pretty sure it means nothing to anyone but that is the nature of this whole endeavor– trying to make sense of something inexplicable.

I was looking at some early pieces and stopped on this one at the top for a bit, looking at it closely for the first time in many years.  It’s from around 1994 and was at a point where I was still trying to figure out things.  It was very illustrative– I could see it being used in a kid’s book– but there were things I took from it.  The treatment of the sky, for instance, presaged the way my process evolved. It’s a pleasant little piece but it is far from where I wanted to be and even back then I knew it when I finished it then set it aside.  It was not an emotional carrier for me at the time and that was what I was seeking.

The piece  below , Into the Valley, was from around six or seven months later, in early 1995,  and shows the changes that were taking hold in my work.  It is simpler in construction yet seems to say more for me, seems to have some more fundamental thought in it.  GC Myers Into the Valley 1995

I usually take something from these little visits back in time.  The changes become more evident as the style matures then levels off, becoming a bit more subtle, less drastic but more confident.  But always changing, always recreating itself as it matures.

Or so I hope…

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Battling Selfishness

Posted in Biographical, Quote, tagged , , , , on September 10, 2014| 2 Comments »

They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing.

–Hindu Proverb

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"Brilliant Determination"

“Brilliant Determination”

I have given away or will be giving away several paintings recently at talks at the galleries that represent my work, including the painting shown here on the left at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria this coming Saturday.  I have described this as an act of gratitude towards the folks who have supported me so well through the years, buying my work and following its growth in the galleries and here online.  This is true, it is an act of gratitude but it also has more meaning than that for me.

It is a small act of giving that is part of a larger battle against the selfishness and meanness of spirit so evident in the world.  I am not exempt here.  I have been a selfish person in my life, probably more so than I would ever admit or know.  And I will probably be selfish in the future even though I try to avoid this pitfall.  But with each small act of giving, of parting with something that I could easily hold onto covetously, there is a lightening of my burden and my spirit.

Generosity forces down many of the meaner parts of myself and creates space within for those better parts to expand and show themselves.  It is an exhilarating feeling, a feeling of liberation from my baser self.  So much so that these events where I give away paintings have become the highlight of my working life.

I think that is why I take so much time and effort in choosing the painting to be given away.  I have to find that piece that I could easily hang onto for myself.  It has to make me twinge a bit, make me a little uncomfortable to give it away.  But once that decision has been made, the lightening begins and I am eager to see where the painting will find a new home.

So, if you can come to the talk on Saturday, know that if you win you are helping fight my battle against selfishness and bringing me great joy.  Even more so if the painting brings you some joy of your own.

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Win This Painting Saturday!

Posted in Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , on September 9, 2014| 5 Comments »

"Brilliant Determination" - GC Myers

“Brilliant Determination” – GC Myers

Well, I finally made my choice for the painting to be given away in a drawing at this Saturday’s Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  It was a tough decision that came down to two pieces that both have a lot of meaning for me.  But when it came right down to it, this painting, Brilliant Determination, seemed more appropriate for the event.  It has the Red Tree in a windswept posture in a simple composition that is supported by a deeply textured background that sets the emotional tone for the painting.  The strong texture of this piece has always drawn me in, connected me to it.  One criteria for giving away work has been met– this painting has meaning for myself.

Another criteria is that the painting be a real painting.  It must have real value, be a painting that I would gladly exhibit and not a studio failure that is one step from being tossed into the fireplace.  This 16″ by 20″ painting on canvas meets this requirement easily.

I thought enough of this piece to have written about it here a few years back.  Here’s what appeared in that blog entry:

 

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.      

– Samuel Johnson

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I’ve been thinking about determination a lot lately.  There are times when nothing seems to come easily and it seems like there are any number of things that would be more enjoyable than struggling forward with your chosen endeavor.  But in the end you force yourself ahead.  There’s a greater satisfaction in struggling with that which you have chosen and feel is meaningful than in doing something that means little to your inner self even though it is easier and, in many cases, more entertaining.

This is something I keep in mind when I’m in the studio.  There are many days when nothing comes easily, every stroke is like lifting a heavy weight and inspiration seems to have left the building long ago.  In these moments self doubts begin to stir and I seriously wonder if I have reached an end to my creative life.  It’s like a dull pain that seems like will be with me forever and there are points I want to stop.

But I remember that this is the path that I chose to follow.  With that recognition I am reminded of other times when I have been at this point before and I know, I just know, that if I steel my mind and force myself to move ahead, one small step in front of another, that I will come to a point  where all this forced energy builds and builds and suddenly breaks free.  In this moment of release, everything suddenly seems effortless and inspiration is everywhere.  It’s like going from the dark depths of a stifling mine to the top of a cool mountain.

And the memory of the toil that it has taken to reach this point fades into the distance.

Until the next time.  And that’s where determination is needed once more.

So, if you can make it to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria this Saturday, September 13th, around 1 PM, you will have a chance at giving this painting a new home.  Plus, there are always a few more surprises.  Hope you can make it!

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Pulse

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on August 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The final mystery is oneself.  When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself.  Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

–Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

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GC Myers- Pulse This painting, a 10″ by 20″ canvas titled Pulse, is part of the show, Layers, that is hanging at the the West End Gallery for just over another week, until August 29th.  I was going to write more about this painting but reading the words of Oscar Wilde above make me think that I need not say more.

The mystery of the universe and that of the self are one and the same.

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Poetry for the Unknown

Posted in Biographical, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , , on August 7, 2014| 6 Comments »

magritteI conceive of the art of painting as the science of juxtaposing colours in such a way that their actual appearance disappears and lets a poetic image emerge. . . . There are no “subjects”, no “themes” in my painting. It is a matter of imagining images whose poetry restores to what is known that which is absolutely unknown and unknowable.

–Rene Magritte, 1967

    In a letter two months prior to his death

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I am giving my annual Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery this coming Saturday, August 9.   I don’t usually come in with a prepared speech, instead speaking off the cuff and responding to the audience, but I still prepare myself in a few different ways.  One is to go over possible themes and clarify my thoughts on these subjects to minimize awkward pauses at the actual talk.  Oh, it doesn’t eliminate them but it helps to have some sort of thought formed beforehand.

The quote above from Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte reminds me of an instance where I didn’t fully get across what I was trying to communicate in response to a question.  While speaking to a regional arts group consisting of enthusiastic painters, some amateurs and some professional, a question was brought up about the importance of subject.  Magritte elegantly stated in his words what I was trying to say that evening, that the purpose of what I was doing was not in the actual portrayal of the object of the painting but in the way it was expressed through color and form and contrast.  To me, the subject was not important except as a vehicle for carrying emotion.

Of course, I didn’t state it with any kind of coherence.  Hearing me say that the subject wasn’t important angered the man who  was a lifelong painter of very accomplished landscapes.  He said that the subject was most important in forming your painting.  I fumbled around for a bit and don’t think I ever satisfied his question or got across a bit of what I was attempting to say.

I think he was still mad when he left which still bothers me because he was right, of course.  Subject is important.  It is the relationship that you have with the subject that makes it a vehicle for accurately carrying the emotional feeling  you are trying to pull from the painting.  While I am not interested in depicting landscapes of specific areas, I am moved by the rolls of hills and fields and the stately personae of trees and that comes through in my painting.  Yes, I can capture emotion in things that may not have any emotional attachment to me through the way I am painting them, which was part of what I was saying to that man that evening, but it will never be as fully realized as those pieces which consist of things and places in which I maintain a personal relationship.

It is always easier to find the poetry of the unknown in those things which we know.

Hopefully, I will not be as inelegant Saturday as I was on that evening.  I hope you can come to the West End Gallery around 1 PM and test me a bit.  I think I’m ready.  Plus, you might walk away with a painting from my studio!

See you then…

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And 20 Years Passed

Posted in Biographical, Early Paintings, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , on July 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

 

Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.
–Thomas Hardy
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1994 Bottle Factory - GC MyersI came across a group of work the other day and realized that they were from a week almost exactly twenty years ago when I had worked on them.  For instance, the piece above was done twenty years ago yesterday.   The sheer idea of twenty years passing seemed fantastic in the moment.  So much has happened and so many things changed over that time yet I still feel new in what I am doing, still feel like the person who looked with wonder at the painting above.

GC Myers the-heights 1994There have been only a few moments, most in the last year or so, when this passing of time has fully sunk in and I feel as though I am a veteran at what I do, feel as though I am what might be termed an established artist.  Maybe seeing these pieces will cement that feeling in place.

Looking at them, I can see my  confidence burgeoning in my work as I began to better understand the materials I worked with and how to control them.  It was all about learning control at that time.  At the time these were painted I was still torn over how and what I would paint.  I still didn’t fully understand the importance of personal vision and was only trying to harmonize forms and color in a pleasing way.   The  work still captured emotion but it was simply a by-product of being immersed in the process so deeply that it could not help but reflect what I was feeling internally.

As I said, I still feel very much like that same person from twenty years ago.  Outside of my marriage, this is the only thing that I have stuck at for so long and that is probably due to the ever-changing  and constant sense of newness and wonder it produces.  That same feeling that I felt years ago when I painted these is still felt today when I work on something new.  Thankfully, that is one thing that has not changed.

GC Myers factory-view 1994

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The Richness of the Moment

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on July 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
– Saint Augustine
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GC Myers- The Richness of the Moment This new painting, a 20″ by 24″ canvas,  is titled The Richness of the Moment .  It was one of the last of the paintings finished for the Layers show which opens tonight at the West End Gallery.   I saw the show hanging together for the first time yesterday and this piece hangs in a group of paintings along the back wall of the space that glows like a bank of  backlit stained glass windows.  There is a luminosity and richness to these pieces that fills that space with warmth.   This work has just the effect as I had hoped it might have when I was looking at it in the studio.
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I think this painting has a richness in it just as its title implies but it is the type of richness that Saint Augustine might have been  referring to in the passage above.  We often search wide and far for new wonders but don’t see the rich tapestry that is right before us in our own lives.  There is wonderment to be found in almost everything we see or touch– it is only its constant presence that has made it seem ordinary and unremarkable to us.  But if we pause to take in the world that within our reach at that moment with a greater awareness and appreciation, the richness becomes apparent.  Each life has the potential for wonder and each moment that may seem ordinary has an element of the sacred within it.
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This painting, at least in my eyes, embodies this thought.  It is simply composed and stated– its subject is absolutely unremarkable at first blush.  But the colors and the juxtaposition of forms and tones that make this piece take on that feeling of the wonder in the surrounding richness to which I referred.
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The Sacred Ordinary.
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I hope you can make it in to the West End Gallery at some point over the course of the next month– the exhibit hangs until August 29th– to judge this for yourself.  The opening reception begins at 4:30 and runs until 7:30 today, Friday, July 25.  I will be in attendance for the duration to answer any questions you might have about the work.  Hope to see you there!

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Energized

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on July 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The human individual lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum. . . . it is only an inveterate habit — the habit of inferiority to our full self.

— William James

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GC Myers- EnergizedThis is Energized, an 18″ by 36″ canvas that is part of the show opening Friday at the West End Gallery.  It was finished in the last days of preparing for the show and immediately lit up the studio with its bold colors and bands of texture that spin across it.  Even though it seemed  calm and placid in demeanor, it seemed filled with energy to me, every aspect of it appearing vibrant.

It was a struggle coming to terms with this combination of calmness and energy when I was searching for a title.  But reading the words above from American philosopher/psychologist William James brought it all into focus for me.  The painting was about being energized in an inner sense, using that energy to reach one’s highest potential and to live in each moment with great vitality.

I think the sun plays a symbolic part here representing the circular and regenerative nature of energy.  We often think of energy being used up like fuel being burned but often energy begets energy.  Effort creates inspiration and opportunity that brings forth new energy, forces that we never realized were waiting in store because we had avoided pushing to live at our optimum level, had  not dared to be our full self.

So Energized seemed like a natural at least in my interpretation of this painting.  You may see it differently and that is as it should be.  Hope ypu can make it out to the West End Gallery to make your own decision.

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