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Archive for the ‘Recent Paintings’ Category

Memento Vivere

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on November 19, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC myers- Memento MoriAccording to its Wikipedia entry, Memento mori (Latin ‘remember (that you have) to die’ ), or also memento mortis, “remember death”, is the Latin medieval designation of the theory and practice of the reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.

I was originally going to use the term for the title of this new painting, a 16″ by 20″ canvas.  It has that sort of feel, from the Red Tree’s skull-like shaped crown  ( the skull is the classic symbol of a memento mori) to the darkly clad figure in the field looking downward.  It surely could be a reflection on our own mortality and the transient nature of earthly pursuits.

But I instead opted to use the flipside of this term, memento vivere which means remember to live.  I see the Red Tree here acting as a vibrant symbol of life, of glorying in the moment despite the constant specter of our inevitable mortality.

Actually, it just occurred to me that there is a yin/yang thing working here with the Red Tree and the figure acting as opposing forces.  I hadn’t noticed this before but it appears even in their physical relationship in the composition.  The Red Tree is the light, the imperative to celebrate life and the lone figure is the dark, the admonition to remember the ephemeral nature of our existence.

And with most things, treading the middle path between two opposing forces is the healthy way to go.  And maybe that is the message here– that we must remember our own mortality in order to live each day as fully as we can.

This painting, Memento Vivere,is part of Into the Common Ground, my solo show at the Kada Gallery which opens December 5, 2014.

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Out of Line

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.
― Ray Bradbury

Zen and the Art of Writing

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GC Myers- Out of Line smI am in the final stages of preparing work for my show, Into the Common Ground, that opens December 5th at the Kada Gallery in Erie.  Final touches on the last few paintings. Framing. Packing.  Details, details, details.

  It is  both my favorite time and least favorite time in the studio.  Favorite because if things go as normal, the work peaks right about this time and the show’s personality and feel really shows through.  I can now see the work as a group hanging in my mind and witnessing it as it comes together is a wonderful feeling that repels the ever present self-doubts that creep in from time to time– still.

It is my least favorite because of the all important detail work that takes place.  This week will be filled with last brush strokes, the smell of varnish and stain in the air and the dust from freshly sanded frames coating my clothing.  It’s not that I mind doing this work–it’s exhilarating to see a piece sometimes transform when it is framed.  It’s just that mind is moving ahead of my body.  I am already seeing in my mind new work inspired by the flurry of the last work from this show but can’t act on it as my body is busy on the details of the show.  There’s a weird tension between the relief of being done with a group of work and wanting to keep going that puts me a bit on edge during this time.

The piece above is one of the later pieces from this group.  It’s a 12″ by 36″ painting on canvas that I call Out of Line.  It is obviously, or so I think, that this is a piece that deals with our singularity as individuals.

For many of us, stepping out of line or expressing our individuality is an uncomfortable thing.  We don’t have the comfort and protection of the crowd to hide our flaws, our quirks.  But for some, it is just a matter of being.  They accept and even celebrate their own flaws and quirks because they make them who they are.  And that is as it should be.

Or so I think.

I don’t think I need to go any further on this painting– it speaks very well for itself, thank you.

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Chaos and Order

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2014| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Chaos and Order smIn its simplest terms, this painting is about all that we don’t know, individually and collectively.

I call this 20″ by 24″ canvas Chaos and Order.  In it, the Red Tree dwells in a land that is apparently in order, a clean landscape of neat rows in the fields and a clear path that takes one through it.  It is seemingly the master of its domain, possessing knowledge of all things within its reach.

Yet, by merely looking into the night sky and seeing the great patterns of chaos written upon it, the Red Tree realizes the limits and boundaries of its knowledge.  It tries to make it fit into some sort of orderliness, something that it can understand on its limited terms but the patterns are too great and come at it like the cacophony of a thousand different languages being spoken at once.

What is the message here?  That we are small and weak before the power of the universe?

Yes and No.  Yes, without knowledge, with only a fear of what lays in that chaos, we are weak and small.  But I don’t think that is the message I see here.   It is that we are merely searchers, still learning the secrets and languages hidden right before our eyes.   The great chaos we see before us might be daunting but we will always try to make order from it in order to find our place within it.  That is simply who we are.

This is another painting that will be at my show, Into the Common Ground, at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA,  opening December 5.

 

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Cradle of Light

Posted in Biographical, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on November 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.

–Vladimir Nabokov

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GC Myers- Cradle of LightThis another painting that is headed to the Kada Gallery as part of my solo show, Into the Common Ground, opening there on December 5th.  I call this 12″ by 16″ canvas Cradle of Light, very much based on the idea expressed in the quote above from Vladimir Nabokov.  Similarly, I tend to believe that our lives are bursts of ephemeral light in the darkness of the universe, so preciously short that each moment in the light is a gift.

Maybe that explains my rising at the first vague hint of light in the early morning sky.  Our time here seems so short , so tenuous, that to waste the light seems foolhardy.  Of course, this realization doesn’t keep me  from squandering this rare commodity on an epic scale nearly every day.  But at first light I am always reminded of the fact of our mortality, of that short time we have to fulfill our purpose here.

Whatever that purpose might be…

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Listening to the Muse

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on November 7, 2014| 6 Comments »

Spend time every day listening to what your muse is trying to tell you.

–Saint Bartholomew

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GC Myers- Listening to the MuseThis is an 18″ by 18″ canvas that is headed to the Kada Gallery in Erie in a few weeks for my show, Into the Common Ground, that opens there on December 5th.  I call this painting Listening to the Muse, very much in line with the quote from St. Bartholomew from back in the 1st century AD.  It was true then and still is, twenty centuries later.

I see this piece as being about the value of silent listening, of finding a quietness of mind and spirit that allows one to observe the world as it moves  along.  I think  the muse dwells in those deep recesses of quiet, timelessly waiting to reveal its secrets if only we can calm the chaos and sound surrounding us long enough to hear.

This is one of those pieces where I could write for hours and not add a bit to what the painting itself reveals with a glimpse.  That being said, I will shut up and listen. Hopefully, the muse will appear.

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Far Above It All

Posted in Painting, Poetry, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on November 3, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Far Above It All smThis is a new painting, a 20″ by 24″ canvas , that is called Above It All, part of the show opening December 5th at the Kada Gallery.  I felt from the time this painting was complete that with its intertwining tree set apart from the village below that it was about some form of love.  But what sort of love and how to describe it in words?
It seemed like a from of eternal love, one bound together through time, much like that in the myth of Baucis and Philemon that I have described here on  several occasions.  But I thought I would look to the words of someone else to perhaps give a new perspective on what I was seeing in this.

That brought me to the poems of Rupert Brooke, the British poet who was just in his ascension as a major poetic voice when he died at the age of 27 in 1915.  He was in the British naval forces of WW I on the way to Gallipoli  when he developed sepsis from an infected mosquito bite.   He was buried in an olive grove on the Greek island of Skyros.   An odd casualty of the war but still a casualty that deprived the world of what might have come from his hand.

The poem of Brooke’s that hit me the most fitting for this piece was one titled The Call, written when he was only about 20 years old.  It has the intensity of youthful love, like a flaming torch held high.  And that’s what I see in this painting.  So, if you can tolerate poetry, and I know some can’t, give a read to the verses below from Rupert Brooke.  It’s powerful and straightforward. And fitting, or so I think.

                      The Call

Out of the nothingness of sleep,
The slow dreams of Eternity,
There was a thunder on the deep:
I came, because you called to me.

I broke the Night’s primeval bars,
I dared the old abysmal curse,
And flashed through ranks of frightened stars
Suddenly on the universe!

The eternal silences were broken;
Hell became Heaven as I passed. —
What shall I give you as a token,
A sign that we have met, at last?

I’ll break and forge the stars anew,
Shatter the heavens with a song;
Immortal in my love for you,
Because I love you, very strong.

Your mouth shall mock the old and wise,
Your laugh shall fill the world with flame,
I’ll write upon the shrinking skies
The scarlet splendour of your name,

Till Heaven cracks, and Hell thereunder
Dies in her ultimate mad fire,
And darkness falls, with scornful thunder,
On dreams of men and men’s desire.

Then only in the empty spaces,
Death, walking very silently,
Shall fear the glory of our faces
Through all the dark infinity.

So, clothed about with perfect love,
   The eternal end shall find us one,
Alone above the Night, above
   The dust of the dead gods, alone.

            -Rupert Brooke

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The Moment of Decision

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on October 30, 2014| 2 Comments »

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road do I take? she asked. Where do you want to go? was his response. I don’t know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn’t matter.

–Lewis Carroll

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GC Myers- The Moment of Decision smMaybe I should call this new painting The Cheshire Cat Tree instead of The Moment of Decision, which is the title I  gave to it.  There is a sort of  built-in grin in the curve of the lower path, as though it is all that remains after the Cheshire Cat has disappeared and the advice he offered Alice in the quote at the top seems to fit so well with anyone coming to any fork in the road.  And the Red Tree offers only, like the Cheshire  Cat, enigmatic advice and guidance at best for it knows that we alone are responsible for our decisions and the path that we will ultimately follow.

For me, this painting also has an interesting interplay between the direction of the two paths,  the lower one being more earthly and the other heading upward  toward a light filled horizon and the heavens above.  It seems to break the painting in two parts, opposing forces that co-exist in harmony.  Yin and yang.

Just a thought.

The Moment of Decision is 24″ by 36″ on canvas and will be part of my show at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA opening December 5.

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Many Ways to Wander

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on October 23, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Many Ways to Wander smWandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

-Anatole France

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On Monday,  I showed  a work-in-progress at an early stage of a painting that is bound for my December show at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.  Above is the resulting painting,  a 24″ by 48″ canvas that I am calling Many Ways to Wander.

For me, the title connects with the many paths that show themselves to the eye, from the fragmented white roads going in what seem to be several directions among the rolling foothills to the observatory’s relationship with the sun and space.  There is also the Red Tree’s posture which represents a spiritual questioning of the universe.  I also see it in the depth created by the distant hills and valleys, which create a sort of visual portal, representing for me an inner wandering.

There is a lot going on in this painting, with direction, color and shape.  But despite this it remains a quiet contemplative piece, with a sun that oversees all and acknowledges our need to search with a cool and non-judgmental eye, knowing that each will find their own path to follow in their own way.  And that is as it should be.

I’m enjoying this piece in the studio over the past few days.  There always seems to be a new angle to see it from, something new to glean from the details and forms, and that seems to pull m eye to it on a regular basis.  I find myself wandering in it throughout the day and I am calmed by it.  And that is all I can ask of it…

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Family Lines

Posted in Influences, Personal Mythology, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on October 21, 2014| 5 Comments »

In different hours, a man represents each of several of his ancestors, as if there were seven or eight of us rolled up in each man’s skin, — seven or eight ancestors at least, — and they constitute the variety of notes for that new piece of music which his life is.
―Ralph Waldo Emerson

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GC Myers- Family Lines smThis is another newer painting that is headed to Erie for my show, Into the Common Ground,  in December at the Kada Gallery.  This 30′ by 40″ canvas is titled Family Lines with the Red Tree serving as the symbol of a family tree and the Red Chair acting as an offspring of it.  The broken segments of the winding path leading up to it represent for me the often arduous task of finding your connection to this tree while the light of the sky represents ultimate discovery and illumination.

I’ve often felt as though I had little definition of myself or my connection to the world through my ancestors.  My work as an artist has helped change this in many ways, giving me a portal for displaying who I am or  at least aspire to be in definition.  But my connection to my ancestors was always vague and hidden away beyond my knowledge.  I wondered who they were, what their stories held  and what traits they fed forward  through time to me.  I began to study my genealogy, hoping to discover some form of connection with the past that might help me better understand who I was in the present.  To discover what worlds the winding path that led to my own life traveled through.

It’s been a wonderful process that has given me greater connection with the past and with the history of this country and with those countries that gave birth to my ancestors.  Naturally, I am always drawn to the grand stories that are uncovered, the heroic and celebrated ancestors that I find myself hoping have somehow contributed some of their positive traits to my DNA.  But I am equally intrigued and touched by the simple and sometimes tragic tales that are uncovered.

I had earlier written of a great grand uncle who had lived his whole life in a county home for the infirmed. He was described in the censuses during his life as “feeble-minded” and he was unceremoniously buried  in an unmarked grave there at the county home.  I recently came across his death certificate and they listed him as a lifelong sufferer of epilepsy.  It made the story even more tragic in that this was perhaps a person who had a condition that would be treatable today.

I think of this person quite often.  His story is as much a part of that tree as those of  its more celebrated members.  It may not be the most beautiful leaf on the branch but it is there.  As Emerson says, we represent in some form a number of our ancestors and whose to say what part this ancestor plays in that piece of new music that is my life.

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Walk On By/ WIP

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, Video, Work In Progress, tagged , , , , , on October 19, 2014| 6 Comments »

GC Myers WIP 2014 smOnce in a great while I show my works in progress here on the blog.  I ‘m never too excited about it because  in many of the stages that are shown the work still lacks that thing, that completeness, that gives it life.  But there is a point earlier in the process where it does attain a certain sense of completion.  It’s right after the initial blocking in of the painting with red oxide paint and after the the first layers of color have given the beginnings of light to the sky.  It has a mood of its own at this juncture, a direction and a sense of the life it will have.

Outside of the final moments near the completion of the moment, this is by far my favorite stage of the process.  After this, as more layers of color are added, it devolves for a while, becoming flat and dull on the surface.  It loses any brightness.  Without this early glimpse of what it might be, these later stages might be discouraging.

This early stage is one where I sometimes find myself wanting to stop, to go no further and just let it be as it is.  But I always seem to push past this and move on to the fuller version that has more color and a bit more polish.   I may show a few more stages along the way until the final version emerges.  By the way, this a 24″ by 48″ canvas.

Being Sunday morning, it’s time for a little music.  I have had an old Burt Bacharach song in my head for a few days, one from his heyday with Hal David where they churned out an amazing string of hits for Dionne Warwick in the early 60’s.  His music always has a distinctive sound and feel.  There is a coolness  and lightness in the sound of  much of his music that I can’t fully describe and Warwick’s strong but delicate phrasing fits it like a glove in these songs.  I guess that’s why it sticks in my mind so well.  Here’s Walk On By from Dionne Warwick.  A little coolness for what I hope will be a great Sunday for you.

 

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