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Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

The Song We Carry

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , on July 17, 2013| 4 Comments »

GCMyers 2013- The Song We Carry smWe all carry a lot of baggage with us on our journey through this life.  It’s a rare moment when we find ourselves free from all the  traces from the past that we lug along– all the snippets of conversations, faces, song melodies and lyrics, pictures, smells, film clips and everything else we have input into the hard drive of our mind is always whirring around.  I know that I will sometimes pull up some fragment from the past and wonder how I was still holding on to this piece of information.  It might be the name of someone that I barely knew forty or fifty years before.  Somehow it hangs on and occasionally pops out, confounding me with the idea that this seemingly useless bit of data is taking up space that could be occupied by truly meaningful information.

Like old Popeye cartoons. ( The one with Olive Oyl singing  What We All Need is Brotherly Love runs on a loop in my head)

Or the year that Humphrey Bogart died.(1957)

Or the name of the book that influenced the original Superman comic. ( It was Philip Wylie‘s Gladiator— an interesting read, by the way.)

But somehow,  despite and because of all this detritus, we  emerge in some individual form.

A single distilled version of everything that we take in.

A single voice.  One song.

I guess that is how I would characterize the thought behind the painting at the top, The Song We Carry.  It’s 7″ by 11″  on paper and is going to the West End Gallery for my upcoming show.

Now here’s a little Popeye along with Wilco.  It’s a video for Wilco’s  Dawned on Me from last year and it features the first hand-drawn Popeye cartoon in over 30 years.  I can’t remember if Olive Oyl danced like this in my memory but now I will.  The data has been entered.

 

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All Gone to Look For America

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Opinion, Video, tagged , , , , on July 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Fourth of July Parade of ScoutsAnother Fourth of July.

Parades.  Picnics. Fireworks. Red, white and blue.  That’s the shorthand version of this day.  The actual meaning of this day is much harder to capture, probably more so for Americans than for those from other countries who view us from a distance.  I think we sometimes lose sight of the idea and ideal of America in our day to day struggle to maintain our own lives.  But even that struggle is symptomatic of the basis of our nation, reminding us that anything worth preserving requires work and maintenance.

For me,  America is not a static ideal, a credo written in granite that will always be there.  It is vaporous and ever changing, like a dense fog.  But it is an inviting fog, one that is warm on the skin and invites you in with hazy promises of possibility.  And maybe all America is– possibility.

Maybe it is the sheer potential of a better and safer life, the possibility of remaking one’s self, that defines our ideal America.  We are at our best when we are open and inviting,  offering our possibility and empathy to all .  We are a long way from our ideal when we close our doors and try to capture the vapor  that is  America all for ourselves.  It is not ours to hold– we are simply caretakers of an ideal, one that brought most of our ancestors here.

Maybe this doesn’t make any sense.  Since it is such a hazy ideal, we all see it in different ways.  This is just how I see it.

Here’s a video of the song America from Simon and Garfunkel, as performed by David Bowie during the Concert For New York City in the aftermath of 9/11.  This is not a flag waving , chest thumping anthem but it speaks as much to the ideal of  the American ideal in that simple chorus — all gone to look for America— as the very best Sousa march.

Have a great Fourth!

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Artist Cafe Clip

Posted in Video, tagged , , , , on June 3, 2013| 5 Comments »

Here’s the excerpted clip of my segment from the WSKG-TV program Artist Cafe that originally aired on May 26.

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Delivery Day

Posted in Music, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , on May 30, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- A Solemn Understanding smI’m on the road today, delivering my show to the Principle Gallery which opens next Friday, June 7th,  there in Alexandria,VA.  It’s always a big relief, physically and mentally, to just get the work out of the studio and into the gallery.  Physically, there is suddenly so much more space in the studio, fewer paintings grabbing at my attention.  It just feels airier.  Mentally, it’s much the same, as though the additional space and light  in the studio suddenly opens up  a bit more space in my mind.  I haven’t even left as I write this but already I am eager to be back at work, invigorated by the cleared space.

The painting above is A Solemn Understanding, a 20″ by 24″ canvas  that is part of this show.   It has very gem-like colors as well as a nice dark warmth and richness to it that gives it a sense of deep pondering, as if the secrets of the universe had  just been revealed to the Red Tree.

Well, I have to go but I thought I’d share a song from several years ago (2004 actually)  from Loretta Lynn‘s collaboration with Jack White on her CD, The Van Lear Rose.  This song, Portland, Oregon, always somehow makes it way to my playlist when I make this drive to Virginia.  Enjoy and stop into to see the work at the gallery if you’re in the area.

 

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Oklahoma USA

Posted in Current Events, Influences, Video, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 23, 2013| 2 Comments »

oklahoma-mapA lot of us probably don’t think too much about Oklahoma and when we do, it’s probably as a result of the latest blow dealt to it by Mother Nature.  This past week’s tornado devastation in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore is the latest such natural disaster to bring our eyes back to Oklahoma, near the very center of our country.  As we do whenever a disaster anywhere occurs, we as a nation come together and give the full benefit of our gathered strength in aid and support.  We are doing this now for the folks in Moore, Oklaoma and if you can, donate a bit to the Red Cross or one of the other relief organizations that will be helping them back on their feet.

Oklahoma has always had a special appeal in the American psyche .   It lives in our minds with Curly riding the plains in that idealized burgeoning new frontier in the musical from Rodgers and Hammerstein.  John Steinbeck set  his fictional Everyman Tom Joad, the plain-spoken hero and seeker of fairness from The Grapes of Wrath,  in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma.  He remains oone of my heroes and I  think of Tom Joad as the epitomized conscience of America.

I have a lot of other heroes from Oklahoma.  Growing up, whenever I heard mention of that state I immediately thought of Mickey Mantle and Johnny Bench, both OK natives.   And you can’t forget that perhaps the greatest athlete of his time, Jim Thorpe, was also from OK.   Or hero astronaut Gordon Cooper.  Oklahoma also gave us the sharp stick of humor that Will Rogers wielded as the greatest observer of  our country in his time and another observer in the form of Woody Guthrie whose songs are filled with the American soul.  His This Land Is Your Land is a tribute to our unity as a nation.

Even in these divided  partisan times, Oklahoma sits near the heart of this country, both geographically and figuratively.  Like I said, give them a hand make it OK again for them.  Here is a take  from one of my favorites , the Kinks,  on the American vision of Oklahoma as seen through British eyes.

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Mother’s Day

Posted in Influences, Music, Video, tagged , , on May 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
-Abraham Lincoln

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My Mom passed away back  in 1995.  It’s hard to believe that it has been so many years now.   A day doesn’t go by that the thought of her doesn’t enter my mind in some way.  A memory of her movement, her voice, her good and bad points– they are all set off by suddenly noticing how deeply they are all ingrained in myself.  When I am walking, I see my mother walking.  When I am angry, I see her anger.  When I am sitting alone, I see her sitting at her kitchen table with a cup of tea and her everpresent  cigarette, wordless and still.

It’s always hard on Mother’s Day, as it probably is for most whose mothers have long passed.  For me , it is often a day filled with regrets for words, both said and unsaid, and actions.  Regrets for not speaking more words of love and appreciation.  Regrets for speaking words as a selfish child that may have unknowingly hurt her.  But, like most days, these regrets fade away and are replaced with only the memory of her– a simple yet complex woman for which I owe that I am or hope to be, as Uncle Abe said.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Here’s Sundown from Gordon Lightfoot.  Mom really  liked this song and Lightfoot’s voice in general.  She also loved  Eddy Arnold‘s voice but that will have to wait until another Mother’s Day..

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Herbert Singleton/ Glad You Dead You Rascal You

Posted in Folk Art, Influences, Music, Outsider Art, Video, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2013| 1 Comment »

Singleton Glad You Dead You Rascal YouSome of the first things I ever did artistically as a somewhat mature person were bas-relief  carvings.  In a way, it formed the technique that I adopted as a painter.  I suppose that’s why I am so drawn to carvings when I come across them.  There’s something very appealing to me in the idea of a flat surface that has this raised, tactile surface. Like a painting that is also available in braille.  I can imagine the artist running his hands over the piece as he works, the ridges and valleys sliding gently underneath in a most comforting way.

Smithsonian American Art Museum - Donald W. Reynolds CenterI recently stumbled  across the work of Herbert Singleton ,  a New Orleans folk artist who made wonderful and colorful carvings such as the piece at the top, Glad You Dead You Rascal You, which depicts a New Orleans funeral procession.  Singleton’s life story is similar in may ways with other folk artists– a life filled with missteps and violence, run ins with the law and addictions.  He spent the better part of 14 years in prison and died in 2007 from lung cancer at the age of 62.  But in his short time here, Singleton created a powerful body of  carved work that documented his world and goes well beyond the label of folk art or self-taught art.  It is not benign work .  It often rails against social injustice and hypocrisy with great gusto.

I was first attracted to some of his Voodoo Protection Stumps, such as the one shown just below, which are carved from  half of a log with  multiple colorful faces emerging from one side and the bark remaining on the backside.  There is an immediacy and vibrancy to the images and color that make them really ring out. Singleton’s work is such a great example of   an artist who will not be held captive to their circumstance,   will not succumb to the hardships and obstacles that that they face.  They use their life and whatever means they can muster to express their place in this world.

SingletonVoodooProtectionStump 2

The piece at the top of this post, Glad You Dead You Rascal You, was based on the song You Rascal You made popular by the great  Louis Armstrong in the early 1030’s.  Here ‘s a Betty Boop cartoon from 1932 that features the song in  an interesting mix of cartoon and live action with Armstrong and his band.  Hard to believe this is from before my dad was born on this day back in 1933.  Happy birthday to my old man.

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The $2 Roadtrip

Posted in Neat Stuff, Video, tagged , , on April 29, 2013| 4 Comments »

The $2 Road Trip FundA friend of mine sent me a story last week that he had come across that he thought would interest me.  It was a story that has been told on CNN and NPR but was not one that I heard.  It was about a young man from NYC named Dotan Negrin who travelled around the Northeast US and eastern Canada, playing piano as he went.  He started the trip in NYC with his van, a 450 pound Kimball piano, a few personal items, a$2 bill which was the only money he took, one gallon of gas in his van and Brando,  his constant canine companion.

The trip lasted 31 days and he covered 3600 miles, playing piano in 11 cities.  He earned money from donations as he played as well as from picking up a few gigs at a few places from owners who heard him on the street.  He came home with the $2 bill still in hand as well as over $2200 more.  It’s a great story, along with earlier trip across the entire US,  that you can read more about at his site Piano Across America.

The $2 Road Trip- Doltan and Brando at workIt’s just another great illustration of someone following their bliss, taking that thing that they most love to do and somehow finding a way to make it their livelihood.  Dotan loves playing piano yet struggled to find a way to earn a living doing it in the traditional manner.  So he made his own opportunity.  It’s a great lesson in thinking outside of the box, determination and not accepting what the eye initially beholds.  A lesson that many of us should take notice of

Too often we let others set our limits and determine our fates.  We all have an ability of some sort.  This is something that I have always believed– that we are all equally gifted and flawed.  It’s just a matter of determining what our own special ability is and finding a way to incorporate it into our life.  Dotan Negrin is doing just that.  On the back of his piano there is a map of the US along with a sign that says “You owe it to yourself to do something remarkable with your life.”

It appears that his special ability is in playing music and inspiring people.

Here’s a great video that has him playing and talking about his trip across the country.  Lot of lessons in here, too.

 

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Soul of a Man

Posted in Music, Photography, Video, tagged , , , , , , on April 27, 2013| 5 Comments »

Frank Hurley- Endurance in the Antarctic- Ghost Ship 1915I came across these photos from the great Frank Hurley when he was part of the fabled Shackleton Expedition (Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917) that tried to cross Antarctica but was trapped  en route in a huge moving ice floe that ultimately crushed and sank their ship, the Endurance.  They  drifted for months and months on ice floes and were in lifeboats in the frigid sea for several days until finally making landfall, nearly 500 days since their voyage began.  This photo shows the Endurance as it is held in the clutches of the Antarctic ice at night.  It’s ghostly image really caught my eye and made me wonder how the members of the expedition might have felt, trapped in a most inhospitable place so far from anyone without any form of communication as you watch your only means of escape slowly be crushed.  

What makes man push to those extremes?

Frank Hurley- Endurance in the Antarctic Night 1915Part of me admires them mightily and makes me wonder if I have ever possessed anything near that drive.  It certainly doesn’t feel like it as I live my relatively safe and comfortable life.  In fact, most of us spend our lives striving to avoid ever being put in harm’s way.  But what drives these others?

I certainly don’t know.  As I said, their exploits fascinate me.  Their actions, which on the surface seem foolhardy for even being considered, take on heroic perspective over time and I suppose that explains my admiration.  I think we all like an epic, almost mythic,  journey.  But I still find myself wishing that I could really get a sense of what they truly felt as they stood in cold silence of the Antarctic night and looked at the frozen bones of their ship.

Perhaps that is just part of the soul of a man.  Here’s a great version of the old Blind Willie Johnson song, Soul of a Man, from David Lindley and Harry Manx.  Great playing on this cut.

Frank Hurley Endurance in the ice 1915 

 

 

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Island of Souls

Posted in At the Movies, Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , , , on April 19, 2013| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Island of Souls  Called Island of Souls, this painting, 16″ by 26″ on paper, uses the isolation of an island as its central theme.  I am not sure if my photography on this particular piece accurately captures the true color and feel of this piece so I may have to re-shoot this.  But this image does get most of what is important so I will get on with it.

The idea of an island has always intrigued me.  I think it comes from the paradox of perception that comes with them.  The isolation offers escape and safe haven from the outer world on one hand but at the same time has a sense of captivity and limitation on the other.  As an artist my working life is spent on such an island, either safely ensconced in the quiet safety of my studio or trapped in a self-made prison, depending on your viewpoint.

A lot of artists have trouble with this isolation but for me it has always been preferable.  I always think of  the film Papillon where inmate Louis Dega, played by Dustin Hoffman, finally accepts and adapts to his fate on Devil’s Island, the penal colony off the coast of French Guiana.  He eventually lives in a little hut away from the others and lives a quiet and simple life until the end of his life there.  I have always thought that , outside it being forced upon him as punishment, it was an existence to which  many  people might aspire, living on a tropical island with little to worry about from the outside world.

Maybe that’s what I see here.  I suppose it could be seen as some sort of a prison with the cluster of huts on a rocky island with a dock and no visible boat.  I tend to see it in more aspirational terms, as a place of peace with a sense of tranquility in the colors of this piece that complements this reading of this picture for me.

One man’s penal colony is another man’s paradise.

Here’s a song of the same name from Sting.  It’s from his 1991 album The Soul Cages and uses the island as a dreamed of place of escape for the boat builders of Newcastle as they toil over the great ships that they will never sail on.

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