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Posts Tagged ‘Alexandria VA’

Getting Out There

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 20, 2013| 3 Comments »

AACThis week I have a couple of things happening in the media concerning my work.  First, is the release of the June issue of American Art Collector magazine which has a preview of my upcoming show, Observers, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA, which  opens on June 7 and runs until July 5.

I have to admit that at earlier points in my career having my work featured in such a magazine, a beautifully produced national  publication featuring some of the country’s finest galleries and representational artists , that I would have felt a huge level of anxiety. Most of the work in this magazine is at the highest level of traditional representation and very little  that looks anything like my work is normally seen in its pages.  Early in my career this idea of not being in step with the accepted norm would have had me in a tizzy.  The confidence to stand alone was just not developed enough at that point and I always felt that if my work was to be judged against other work, what it was not would count more than what it was.

But time has taught me that it is actually the other way around and I have found  real confidence in my voice.  I now see that it is that very uniqueness, what the work is rather than what it is not,  that differentiates my work.  I am now pleased, not anxious or intimidated,  that my work stands alone in its look among these extraordinarily talented artists.   The article looks great  (shown at the bottom here) and the work definitely maintains its uniqueness among a lot of beautiful work.

The June  issue should be hitting the mailboxes and  newsstands this week.

Also, this coming Sunday, May 26th at 5:30 PM,will be the first airing of my segment on WSKG’s Artist Cafe.  I wrote earlier here about them coming to my studio for filming  and it’s finally going to air.  It’s a short segment, four or five minutes in length, that will be available on YouTube within a day or two after the broadcast for those of you living outside the WSKG broadcast area who want to view it.  I will let you know here when it goes online.

AAC June 2013 Complete Spread sm

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Destiny

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on April 24, 2013| 7 Comments »

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. 

-Joseph Campbell

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GC Myers- Destiny AwaitsImagine us all as being boats on the oceans of the world.

 Some of us drift aimlessly, of course.  That was how I first set out.  No idea where I was going or even in which direction to navigate.  At any given moment, what might be my destination could have been  right in front of me or in a totally different hemisphere thousands of miles away and I would not know.  I had no idea what to even look for as I drifted.

But  some of us set out for a known destination and fully expect to arrive at that point.  We have studied the maps and charts and set a course, making all the needed preparations and taking every precaution.  We have sought out the advice of those who have made that voyage before and have formed an image in our mind of how the whole journey will go.

 But sometimes things don’t go as we plan.  Sometimes we get blown off course by storms and lose our way.  Or we were not as prepared as we thought for the hardship of the voyage.  Or the advice we received was mistaken.  Or sometimes we arrive and find that there is no room for us to dock or that our destination just wasn’t as we had imagined before we set sail.

 Perhaps ultimately that destination was not our destiny after all and we must set off once more in search of it.  It must be out there, that place, that one spot that we feel is totally our own.

I suppose this is how I see this new painting, an 8″ by 20″ on paper that I simply call Destiny.  It’s a composition that I have visited several times in the past and one that always attracts me for the simple elegance and balance of it.  There’s a confidence and clean sharpness in the way the image comes across that makes it very palatable– it immediately announces itself to the viewer, regardless of how they personally interpret it.

This piece’s destiny is my June show, Observers, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

 

 

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Observers

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on April 2, 2013| 9 Comments »

GC Myers- Observers smallThis is a new painting that is called Observers, which is also the name of my upcoming June show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  It’s a triptych that measures 24″ by 48″ and is on a birch panel.  Because I’m feeling a bit under the weather, I am not going to write much on this piece today.  I’ll reserve that for another time when I’m a little more on my game.  But I did want to show this painting today, to get some feedback on it.

Have at it…

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Larger Than Life

Posted in Influences, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on March 28, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Larger Than LifeI am currently working on a new body of work for my annual June show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.   I am calling this year’s exhibit,  my fourteenth solo show there,  Observers, and the piece shown here is one of the pieces that will make up the show.

This painting, a 16″ by 26″ piece on paper, is called Larger Than Life.  It’s a continuation of the Red Roof landscapes that I have been showing on this blog lately.  This piece was another that came from my early morning session in the studio when I had several images come to mind during a sleepless night.  It evolved into something other than what I originally saw but I am actually more pleased with the final result than with the mental image that inspired it.  In my mind I didn’t foresee the little peninsula  that is home to the larger than life Red Tree but, as I worked along, it  just grew out of the mainland on its own.  It seemed a natural fit and I never questioned it and liked the way the causeway broke up the two blocks of color that make up the body of water depicted here.

The Red Tree is, as I pointed out, is larger the life which is obviously the basis of its title.  I really wanted to make it unnaturally large and expressive, its trunk and branches more shrub-like than one might expect from such a large tree.  I had toyed with the idea of a simpler, straighter and more sturdy tree but felt it would alter the entire feel of the piece and wouldn’t provide enough of a counterpoint to the uniformity and order of the houses that were on the opposite shore.  I see the Red Tree here a connector, the thing that binds the everyday, represented by the houses, to the ethereal that the horizon and sun represent here.  It needed to be bigger and more expressive and so it came to be.

I’ve been enjoying  taking in this piece over the last day or so.  The diagonals of color, the running ribbon of the path and the curves of the shoreline keep my eye moving through the piece.  As I said, it is more than I originally saw.

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2013 Show Dates

Posted in Painting, tagged , , , on January 24, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers Bright OutlookThe dates for my two annual shows have been set.    Friday,   June  7th, is the day that my  solo  show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA opens and at the end of the next month, on Friday, July 26th,  my show at  the West End Gallery begins.  Show titles and other details will be forthcoming.

I have had long runs at both of these wonderful galleries, this being my fourteenth show at the Principle Gallery and my twelfth at the West End.  This is sort of unusual in that it’s often difficult to have such long runs of exhibits at a single gallery without exhausting  the market for your work.  The fact that I have been able to have these long runs is something that I take great pride in because it’s a testimony to the continuing growth and evolution of the work through the years which has continually attracted  newer collectors at these established galleries.  I use this as a spur to keep pushing forward and during periods where I am experiencing the doldrums I only have to remind myself of those people who come to these shows to get my engines revving again.

We shall see what this new year brings for these shows.  The piece at the top is a smaller new painting, 6″ by 8″ on paper, called Bright Outlook.  I hope this painting’s title applies for the coming year for us all.

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A Quick Look Back at 2012

Posted in Biographical, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 2, 2013| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- The Internal Landscape 2012I’ve been hobbled a bit over the last couple of weeks by a pinched nerve in my neck that has made any work (or sleep) almost impossible to accomplish. Hopefully, it will soon fade and I will be working feverishly again.  But while it has kept me from work, it has not prevented me from thinking back on 2012 and what it meant for my work.  It was truly a great year for it, one that will be hard to replicate.

Four solo shows in galleries.

In June, there was A Place to Stand at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia.  It was my  thirteenth solo show at a gallery that has meant very much to my career.

July found my show, In Rhythm, opening at the West End Gallery in Corning, New York.   I started my career at the West End and this show, my eleventh there, may have been the best of the lot.

Inward Bound opened in October at the Kada Gallery in Erie Pennsylvania.  I have  been  showing with the Kada for what will be seventeen years  in early 2013 and had a show there every two years since 2004.  This was one of my favorites there or anywhere.  There was a wonderful review in the Erie paper that I featured here.

December found me on the west coast with an opening of my show, The Waking Moment, at the Just Looking Gallery in lovely San Luis Obispo.  It was my first show with this long established California gallery with whom I began a relationship earlier in the year.  They have done an absolutely terrific job in exposing my work to folks from LA to San Francisco.  It was a pleasure meeting the collectors and staff out there I look forward to a long term partnership with them.

Of course, the biggest event this year was my first ever museum exhibit, Internal Landscapes: The Paintings of GC Myers, at the prestigious Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York. It opened in August and just closed this past Sunday,  A fitting end to a great year.  The show featured a group of my work from the past several years including the new The Internal Landscape , shown above, which is the largest piece I have painted and one that I featured on this blog early in the year as it was being completed.  The response exceeded my expectations in all regards and remains the high water mark  in my career to date.  It has given me a new perspective on what my work is and what it might be.  A great experience, all in all.

In between shows, there were gallery talks as well as my work being featured on the cover of a new CD, Lowe Country.  Plus, several of my paintings found their way to Uganda to hang in the US Embassy there, accompanying the new ambassador.

Along the way, I met scores of great folks who shared their stories with me.  Many thanks to everyone I encountered as well as more thanks than I can ever fully express to all of the  staff at the galleries and at the Fenimore who gave me the gift of this year.

As I said, it was year that will be hard to match.  But as soon as I am able, I will be trying to do just that. Or more.

 

 

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Chanson

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on September 6, 2012| 4 Comments »

I thought I would show one more new painting that will be on its way to the Principle Gallery for my Gallery Talk there this Saturday at 1PM .  It’s a tall, thin piece, 4″ wide and 26″ tall on paper,  called Chanson.

This piece was painted over several weeks,  worked at whenever I had a few free moments and wanted to unwind a bit.  I started at the bottom and just let the colorful forms grow upward, letting each block of color playfully work the next.  It gave this piece a festive appearance and the feel of a confection- perhaps a colorful cupcake,  bright and inviting.

But as it finished , the forms began to remind me more of music.  It’s not something I can explain in any satisfactory way but when I look over the shapes and colors, each seems to trigger a sound, a note in my mind.

It was like a choral piece with many voices coming together within the thin parameters of the painting’s dimensions and being forced upward and channeled through the Red Tree that sits atop the stack.  As though the tree was an embodiment of the totality of the  polyphonic sound.

That’s where the title, Chanson, comes in.  It’s a French  lyric song, mainly from the Medieval times,   that consists of multiple voices.  A chant, you might say.  It seems to fit for the way I see it– a colorfully bright song of many voices that rises upward in unison.

Again, this will be at the Principle Gallery on Saturday, September 8, when I give  my annual  Gallery Talk there.  It starts at 1 PM.  Hope to see you there.

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Over the Blues

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on September 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is a new piece, a 10″ by 16″ painting on paper called Over the Blues, that is headed to the Principle Gallery on Saturday.  It will be part of a small group of new work that will accompany me when I travel to Alexandria for my annual September gallery talk there.  The talk begins at 1 PM at the Principle Gallery on King Street and normally lasts about an hour.  I try to keep it a lively back and forth so if you’re in the area, please stop and join in.

This piece appears dark at first with the deep blue fields and clouds but there’s a clarity that comes from the sky  that  brought  the title to mind.  The Red Tree here seems to rise above the darker, more ominous tones of the land around it and revel in the lighter atmosphere it has found.  As though it has shed the burdens that had smothered it before and is now free to breath.  Ethereal air.

Again, Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Old Town Alexandria this Saturday, September 8 at 1PM.

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Archaeology: Future Past

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on May 29, 2012| 1 Comment »

I am in the final days of preparations for my show, A Place to Stand, which opens next Friday, June 8th, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  This always seems to be  the most tedious part of my job, at least while I’m in the midst of it.  The painting is set aside and long days are spent staining and sanding frames, cutting  mats and putting it all together to make what I hope is a great show. 

 But near the end of the tedium and  the angst which comes as the deadline appoaches, it begins to become exciting again as the paintings, which have been strewn around the studio in various stages of completion and without any sort of framing or final finish, begin to come to life for me.  It’s like the final presentation suddenly clicks some deeply hidden switch and what seemed like only potential before now becomes a separate entity before my eyes, complete and self-contained in its message and meaning.  

It’s at this point that I get to really look with focus for what may be the last time at much of this work.  During the process a painting may be completed and set aside, only to get an occasional glimpse or passing glance.  But now I get to take a last long look and see what is really there.  I am seldom disappointed at this stage.  Paintings that would do that don’t make it this far.  But sometimes I am simply satisfied,  the painting being just as I had expected.  But once in a while it all comes together and a piece meets every aspiration I have for it, making it feel like more than the sum of its parts.

That is how I feel about this new painting.  It is titled Archaeology: Future Past and is a 12″ by 24″ canvas.  It does just what I wanted the Archaeology pieces to do which is to to have an immediate and strong look, an instant identity  that the viewer takes it in and gets a sense of   from a distance.  The subterranean deris field reveals itself as the viewer nears and has its own rhythm and narrative, contained in yet separate from the strong presence  of the scene above.  Even the ribbons of strata that separate the two parts here have a strong rhythmic presence that adds greatly to the whole. 

That may be the operable word here– whole.  It has a feeling of completeness that I am always excited by in any piece of art .  It doesn’t need any explanation including my words here. Simply strong and unmistakable. 

All I could hope for…

 

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Sovereign Solitude

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on May 16, 2012| 6 Comments »

I’ve been getting work ready for my upcoming show, A Place to Stand, which opens June 8th at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.  This will be the thirteenth consecutive year that I have had a solo exhibit there yet it still induces a certain fear and anxiety, feelings that my own common sense tell me should have faded long ago.  But they still persist.  However, part of me appreciates this fear in that it makes me focus on the body of work, knowing that creating work that speaks and stands on its own is the only way to overcome these anxieties.  If I am satisfied with the overall feeling of the work then it will ultimately prove to be successful.

That being said, I am at a point in this process where the body of work has began to take a shape, a theme that runs through it.  It is called A Place to Stand and that definitely speaks very much to what I see in many of the paintings.  The word sovereignty  also comes to mind often when I scan through this group of work.  The idea of the individual standing apart, self-reliant and strong, is an appealing notion to me, as it is to many others.  This sovereign individual is still part of this world yet self-contained, it alone being responsible for its actions and reactions. It has made its choice and it has chosen solitude.

This is a scary concept for some, a life where we must take responsibility for our actions and decisions, where we relish our time alone in solitude.  It is a freedom which we profess to desire but are often hesitant in pursuing. It may not be a freedom which suits everybody but for those who seek this sovereignty of self, there is no greater reward than living by your own decisions and beliefs.  We may not seem significant in the greater world but we have the power to rule our own lives.

And that should always be remembered.

The painting at the top is very new and really ignited this thought process this morning.  It is called Sovereign Solitude, of course, and is  6″ by 22″ on paper.  I finished this piece late yesterday and found myself thinking about it all evening, wanting to get back in the studio early this morning to look at it to see if it still jibed with how I was seeing and feeling it in my mind.  It did. 

It has a warmth and calmness in it that I myself find appealing.  It is like taking a deep breath then slowly releasing it, allowing the effects of this action to be felt fully.  The pulse slows and breathing levels off. 

Solitude found.

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