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Posts Tagged ‘gallery talk’

Art’s Revelation

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on October 30, 2025| 2 Comments »

First Peace— At West End Gallery

The great quality of true art is that it rediscovers, grasps and reveals to us that reality far from where we live, from which we get farther and farther away as the conventional knowledge we substitute for it becomes thicker and more impermeable.

–Marcel Proust, The Maxims of Marcel Proust (ed. 1948)

Proust certainly knew what he was talking about when it comes to the reality of one’s inner landscape. In his case, it is a place populated with layers of memory. The memories described in his monumental seven-volume Remembrance of Things Past are both voluntary and involuntary, those triggered and animated in his inner world by a sensory prompt– a taste, smell, sight, or sound– occurring in the outer real world.

His maxim above clearly states what I have been trying to say with my work for years now. And that is that art reveals realities that we often fail to observe. As he points out, it is a reality that has been barricaded from us by the common perceptions of what makes up reality that have been built up over the years. We have become so entrenched in only dwelling in that reality that we have lost the ability to sense and appreciate the other, that being one’s inner reality and its connection to an even greater outer reality.

My hope as an artist is that my work serves as a device or a prompt for the viewer to find their way to their own inner world, to see things from a viewpoint inside themselves rather than from their usual position in the outer world. And maybe that is what true art is, a device or tool that exists beyond its surface.

Proust mentioned this in the final volume of Remembrance of Things Past, writing how the reader (or in my case, the viewer) uses the work as instrument in which they can better see themselves.:

In reality every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to enable him to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have perceived in himself.

In that way, a piece of art becomes something more than mere wall coverings or ear or mind candy. It becomes a portal to another reality, another dimension, in which we are inhabitants whether we know it or not. It’s kind of miraculous to see this in action, to see someone engage with a piece of art that instantly reveals something of themselves of which they were either unaware or were blindly seeking.

I’ve been fortunate to witness this several times over the years and it may well be the primary motivator for my work now. 

Well, that was not expected when I started this post this morning. Hope it makes sense in an hour or a day from now. Maybe we will talk about this on Saturday at the Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery.

Maybe not. Who knows which way the wind will blow on Saturday?

The Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery begins at 11 AM and lasts about an hour, ending with the drawing for the painting, Dare to Know, shown at the bottom of this page. The Gallery Talk and the drawing for the painting are free and open to all. You must be in attendance to win prize. Seating is limited so I would suggest you arrive early to claim your seat and settle in. We can chat or you can take in the exhibit. Doors Open at 10:30 AM.

Here’s a favorite song, Killing the Blues. It is best known as performed by John Prine which to me is the gold standard. I hesitated in playing this version that I like very much from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant since I have played it here before. I thought it was recently but, after checking, discovered that I had shared it last in 2011. I guess a 14-year gap between plays is acceptable.

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Lullaby

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Dusk of Time- At West End Gallery

In my solitude I sing to myself a sweet lullaby, as sweet as my mother used to sing to me.

–Albert Cohen, The Book of My Mother (1954)

Today’s post is kind of like a poker hand. I have a pair of Cohens and a wild card in the form of a new painting. The first of the two Cohens is Albert Cohen who is noted as “a Greek-born Romaniote Jewish Swiss novelist who wrote in French.” Born in 1895, he is considered a French writer though he lived most of his life in Switzerland, dying in 1981.

The other Cohen here is the late great Leonard Cohen. I am sharing a song from late in his long career, Lullaby, from 2012. His deep voice and the song’s easy pace and rhythm have a most soothing feeling for me. 

The painting is Dusk of Time from my current solo show hanging at the West End Gallery. I find a soothing feeling in this piece that matches up well with the Cohen song.

Hey, I just fell asleep while looking and listening. I guess they do work well as a lullaby. 

There you are. Three of a kind. That’s usually a winning hand. If I had only come up with a fourth Cohen–that would have been unbeatable! I was going to try to slip in something from the theatrical giant George M. Cohan and maybe slur over the fact it is Cohan with an A rather than Cohen with an E but decided against it. That might be viewed as being a bit underhanded.

Oh, what the hell. Here’s something from George M. Cohen. Oops. That should be Cohan:

Whatever you do, kid—always serve it with a little dressing.

I will use that slightly deceitful fourth Cohen as the transition into the Gallery Talk that will be taking place on Saturday at the West End Gallery. It begins at 11 AM and lasts about an hour, ending with the drawing for the painting, Dare to Know, shown at the bottom of this page. And that’s not all. Taking the advice from that fourth Cohen, er, Cohan, it will be served with a little dressing.

Hope you can make it to the West End Gallery on Saturday for the Gallery Talk. I have plenty of dressing all ready to go…

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The Wise Perceive

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on October 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The Wisdom Beyond Words– At West End Gallery

But the Wise Perceive Things About to Happen

“For the gods perceive future things,
ordinary people things in the present, but
the wise perceive things about to happen.”

–Philostratos, Life of Apollonios of Tyana, viii, 7.

Ordinary people know what’s happening now,
the gods know future things
because they alone are totally enlightened.
Of what’s to come the wise perceive
things about to happen.

Sometimes during moments of intense study
their hearing’s troubled: the hidden sound
of things approaching reaches them,
and they listen reverently, while in the street outside
the people hear nothing whatsoever.

–C.P. Cavafy (1915)

I have mentioned C.P. Cavafy a few times here in the past. In 2021 I wrote the following in a post about one of his more famous poems, Waiting For the Barbarians:

Been reading some verse lately from Constantine P. Cavafy, the great Greek poet who lived from 1863 until 1933. He lived his entire life in Alexandria, Egypt and his work often captured the sensual and exotic cosmopolitan feel of that time and place. Readers of Lawrence Durrell and his Alexandria Quartet, in which Cavafy appears as a character, will know what I mean.

Though Cavafy was known for his poetry among the Greek community in Alexandria he spent most of his life working as civil servant. He didn’t actively seek widespread acclaim, turning down opportunities to have his work published while often opting to print broadsheets of his poetry that were distributed to only a few friends. His work didn’t realize wider acclaim until later in his life (and afterwards) when his friend, novelist E.M.Forster, wrote about his work, describing him as a Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe.

I love that description from Forster: standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe. I am not exactly sure what Forster meant but part of me thinks I know exactly what he is saying.

He sees Cavafy as both part and apart from the world around him. Seen and unseen. Engaged and disengaged.

My perception could well be the result of my own experience of having often felt both part and apart from all things. Not knowing anything but my own experience, I assumed that many others felt exactly the same. But over time, I realized that while there were many others, it wasn’t as many as I had thought.

I don’t know why this was the case. Maybe it’s simply easier to choose one or the other. Choosing and seeing oneself as part of things allows one to be absorbed into the crowd, to take on the voice and thought of the crowd. It requires so much less effort than thinking or speaking in your own voice. And it feels safer in the protection of the crowd.

When you stand apart, you are vulnerable and dependent upon your own wits, senses, and perceptions. There is a sense of danger in this, knowing that whether you stand or fall depends on your own choices and actions.

But with that comes a sense of freedom. You speak your own words and hear clearly beyond the din of the crowd. You think and decide on your own. 

You become the tree, still part of the forest yet standing apart.

And maybe that is what Forster was implying with his slight angle to the universe. 

I don’t know and I am not sure that this makes one whit of sense to anyone. Probably doesn’t. I don’t mind though. I have often not made sense in many things. Maybe I am standing a little off level myself.

Hey, here’s a lovely piece from Yo-Yo Ma. It’s Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone from his soundtrack to the film, The Mission.

REMINDER

MY ANNUAL GALLERY TALK

AT THE WEST END GALLERY

TAKES PLACE

THIS COMING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2025. BEGINNING AT 11 AM

SEATING IS LIMITED. THE DOORS OPEN AT 10:30 AM. IT IS SUGEESTED THAT YOU ARRIVE EARLY.

YOU COULD WIN A PAINTING!

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Back Yourself into Your Own Corner

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The Wanderer’s Compass— Coming to the Principle Gallery

I think while appropriation has produced some interesting work … for me, the most interesting thing is to back yourself into your own corner where no one else’s answers will fit. You will somehow have to come up with your own personal solutions to this problem that you have set for yourself because no one else’s answers are applicable.

[…]

See, I think our whole society is much too problem-solving oriented. It is far more interesting to [participate in] ‘problem creation’ … You know, ask yourself an interesting enough question and your attempt to find a tailor-made solution to that question will push you to a place where, pretty soon, you’ll find yourself all by your lonesome — which I think is a more interesting place to be.

— Chuck Close, 2006 interview with Joe Fig for Inside the Painter’s Studio

I have written about late artist Chuck Close (1940-2021) a few times here before. While I was fan of his distinctive work, it was his words that really hit close to home for me. For example, his Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work has been a credo of sorts for me for some time now. In this article which spawned that credo, Close also spoke the words above and they have the same sort of meaning.

Back yourself into your own corner where no one else’s answers will fit.

I love this and can easily identify with it. I have sometimes described it as working to a place where all your influences have faded away completely and your work becomes distinct, almost self-referential.

Painting is about problem solving. Just the process of taking paint and using it to give form and meaning in two dimensions is, at its heart, a major problem. Some artists follow the lead of those who came before them in solving the problems that come with painting. That’s the appropriation that Close mentions.

But as he also says, it is most interesting when the well-worn answers no longer solve the problem as you see it. You must depend on your own unique set of skills and intuition. That is when the work of any artist takes on a new dimension and singularity for a solution. It also creates a great sense of autonomy in the artist, one that feels freed from the constraints of the influence of the past.

I also like Close’s thoughts on problem creation versus problem solving in the creative process. Problem creation forces us into those corners where new answers emerge as solutions.

I think the painting at the top is microcosm or shorthand version of that principle. It was started at the Painting Demo I gave at the Principle Gallery in June. I had a young lady from the assembled group make the first mark on the canvas.

It was a slash in a difficult spot on the surface. Definitely a problem that somewhat backed me into a corner. But it was actually a good thing because it allowed me to demonstrate how I react to such problems and the problems that arose from my initial reactions. And in my own way.

I often think that my best work comes when I encounter a problem that stretches me out and makes me uncomfortable., forcing me to look beyond the toolbox of skills I have assembled. The creation of new problems allows us to react in different ways, to climb out of our own ruts.

To create new solutions and maybe open new avenues to follow forward– that is where growth begins.

The painting, a 20″ by 20″ canvas, from the Demo is now finished, framed, and titled The Wanderer’s Compass. It will be coming with me to the Gallery Talk this Saturday, September 27, along with a group of new work. The Talk begins at 1 PM.

Gallery Talks also fall into the province of problem creation and problem solving. A big part of my talks is Question & Answer, which by its very nature is problem creation which often makes me scramble to come up with an answer that makes sense. It’s much like painting in that way.

Of course, I can cover up all my mistakes at the Talks by giving away a painting at its end. The painting this year is A Place of Sanctuary, shown below. Hope you can make the Gallery Talk on Saturday. You might well walk away with this painting!

A Place of Sanctuary— You Could Win This Painting!

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Gallery Talk One Week From Today!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on September 20, 2025| 2 Comments »

A Place of Sanctuary— You Could Win This Painting!

The whole value of solitude depends upon oneself; it may be a sanctuary or a prison, a haven of repose or a place of punishment, a heaven or a hell, as we ourselves make it.

― John Lubbock, Peace and Happiness

I promised the other day to reveal the painting that I would be the main prize awarded to someone at the Gallery Talk that I will be giving at the Principle Gallery next Saturday, September 27.

Well, here it is.

It’s titled A Place of Sanctuary and is a substantial piece at 18″ by 24″ on canvas. I believe this painting is, as I wrote earlier, a pip. I can’t fully describe what it is that makes it so, but it never fails to capture my attention when I am in its presence. Presence might be the right word, with its deep and rich colors and a large sun that feels that it might be a hypnotist’s watch mesmerizing me as I gaze at it.

Whatever it is, it transports me to a place that feels like sanctuary.

I have always maintained that the paintings given away at Gallery Talks over the years have great meaning for me, that giving it away has to involve a sense of sacrifice on my part. It has to hurt a little bit, has to make me question if I am making a mistake. This painting definitely falls into that category.

There will be a drawing for A Place of Sanctuary at the end of the Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery which takes place next Saturday, Saturday 27, beginning at 1 PM. The Gallery Talk and the drawing for the painting is free and open to everyone. You must be present when the painting is awarded.

Hope you can make it to the Principle Gallery next Saturday. In the meantime, here’s post about this painting from a few years back:

I had never heard of John Lubbock before coming across the short quote above. He was one of those interesting 19th century British characters, a titled member (1st Baron Avebury) of a wealthy banking family who made great contributions to the advancement of the sciences and math as well as to many liberal causes. For example, it was John Lubbock who coined the terms Paleolithic and Neolithic in describing the Old and New Stone Ages, as well as helping to make archaeology a recognized scientific discipline. As a youth he was a neighbor to Charles Darwin and was heavily influenced by the older scientist, who he befriended. He also worked with Darwin as a young man and championed his evolutionary theories in his later adulthood. He was obviously a man who used his position and access to higher knowledge to add to both his own intellect and that of our collective body.

That being said, his words this morning gave me pause. I have generally viewed solitude as a sanctuary, even in the troubled times of my life. It was a place to calm myself, to gather my thoughts and clearly examine what was before me. I crave solitude so the idea that for some this same solitude could feel like a hell or a prison seemed foreign to me.

What differentiates one’s perception of such a basic thing as the solitude in being alone? How could my place of sanctuary be someone else’s chamber of horrors?

If you’re expecting me to answer, you’re going to be disappointed because I can’t really say. I might say it might have to do with our insecurity but I have as much, if not more, uncertainty and insecurity than most people. We all have unique psychological makeups and every situation, including that of solitude, is seen from a unique perspective.

This subjectiveness is also the basis for all art. What else could explain how one person can look at a painting and see an idyllic scene while another can feel uneasy or even offended by the same scene?

Now, the painting at the top, titled A Place of Sanctuary, is a piece that very much reflects this sense of finding haven in solitude. For me, it is calming and centering, a place and time that appeals to my need for sanctuary.

Someone else might see it otherwise. They might see something remote, alien and unsettling in it.

I may not understand it but that’s okay, too. So long as they feel something…

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Inner Perception, Redux

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 19, 2025| 2 Comments »

Inner Perception (2011)– Coming to Principle Gallery

I have sat here for quite some time this morning trying to write about some of the new work I have been producing for my October West End Gallery show or some that is headed with me to the Principle Gallery for my Gallery Talk there next Saturday.

I know that I am more than little distracted and anxious by what is happening in this country as we descend into outright authoritarianism. It sometimes seems trivial and foolhardy to talk about art and thought when the house is burning down around you.

But I also know that part of what I do is to create work and write about things that deal with coping with life and all its travails. There is a need and a place for what this is in times like this.

I am time strapped now after sitting and ruminating here for so long. So, I am running an older post that deals a bit with an older piece, Inner Perception, shown above, that I am bringing next week to the Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery. Every so often I like to break out and make available a vintage piece or two. This has been a personal favorite for a long time now and I felt it was time to let it find a place where it could be viewed with fresher eyes than mine.

Here the post from 2014:

This is a painting from a few years back that has toured around a bit and found its way back to me. Called Inner Perception, it has been one of my favorites right from the moment it came off my painting table. Maybe the inclusion of the the paint brush (even though it is a house painter’s brush) with red paint in the bristles makes it feel more biographical, more directly connected to my own self. Or maybe it was the self-referential Red Tree painting on the wall behind the Red Chair.

I don’t know for sure. But whatever the case, it is a piece that immediately makes me reflective, as though it is a shortcut to some sort of inner sanctum of contemplation.

Looking at it this morning, a question I was asked at a Gallery Talk I gave at the Principle Gallery a week or so ago re-emerged.

I was asked what advice I might give my fifth-grade self if I had the opportunity.

I had answered that I would tell myself to believe in my own unique voice, to believe in the validity of what I had to say to the world.

I do believe that, but I think I might add a bit to that answer, saying that I would tell my younger self to be patient and not worry about how the world perceives you. That if you believed that your work was reflecting something genuine from within, others would come to see it eventually.

I would also add to never put your work above the work of anyone else and, conversely, never put your work beneath that of anyone else. I would tell myself to always ask “Why not me?” instead of “Why me?”

This realization came to me a couple of years ago at my exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum. When it first went up it was in a gallery next to one that held the work of the great American Impressionists along with a painting from Monet. I was greatly intimidated, worrying that my work would not stand the muster of being in such close proximity to those painters who I had so revered over the years. Surely the greatness of their work would show me to be a pretender.

But over the course of the exhibit, that feeling faded and the intimidation I had initially felt turned to a type of defiant determination. I began to ask myself that question: Why not me?

If my work was genuine, if it was true expression of my inner self and inner perceptions, was it any less valid than the work of these other painters? Did they have some greater insight of which I was not aware, something that made their work deeper and more connected to some common human theme? If, as I believe, everyone has something unique to share with the world, why would my expression of self not be able to stand along their own?

The answer to my question was in my own belief in the work and by the exhibit’s end I was no longer doubting my right to be there. So, to my fifth-grade self and to anyone who faces self-doubt about the path they have chosen, I say that if you know you have given it your all, shown your own unique self, then you must ask that question: Why not me?

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Harmonia

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 27, 2024| 1 Comment »

GC Myers-- Harmonia 2024

Harmonia— Coming to Principle Gallery

When we speak of man, we have a conception of humanity as a whole, and before applying scientific methods to, the investigation of his movement we must accept this as a physical fact. But can anyone doubt to-day that all the millions of individuals and all the innumerable types and characters constitute an entity, a unit? Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them. I cut myself in the finger, and it pains me: this finger is part of me. I see a friend hurt, and it hurts me, too: my friend and I are one. And now I see stricken down an enemy, a lump of matter which, of all the lumps of matter in the universe, I care least for, and it still grieves me. Does this not prove that each of us is only part of a whole?

For ages this idea has been proclaimed in the consummately wise teachings of religion, probably not alone as a means of insuring peace and harmony among men, but as a deeply founded truth. The Buddhist expresses it in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one.

–Nikola Tesla, The Problem of Increasing Human Energy

This is another new painting that is headed to the Principle Gallery with me tomorrow as part of a group of new work. It is titled Harmonia and is 8″ by 8″ on panel. Like a few other of the new pieces, this has an smooth untextured surface that gives it a very glass-like appearance. This is especially so with the transparency of the paints which allows the white ground underneath to shine through, producing an effect as though the piece is lit from behind.

That’s something that I always aim for in my work. When it appears, it shows itself in lesser or greater magnitudes. I think this one is on the higher end. It has a very striking appearance, much more so in person than in the image shown here. Sometimes a photograph loses some of the fullness of a painting, flattening out the colors and not fully capturing their depths, intensity or transparency. I think that is the case here.

The title comes from a belief of mine that is very much attached to the words above from Nikola Tesla, that we are all as one. It’s the same sentiment that echoes from poet John Donne:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

That is the feeling I get from this piece, that as much as we try to isolate ourselves from the world we are forever attached to and affected by this connection. We live our best lives when we recognize this and achieve some sort of harmony — or should I say truce– between ourselves and the world. It’s a matter of giving everyone and everything the same degree of respect and kindness that we expect to be given by others. 

It’s another form of the old love-thy-neighbor adage. It’s been around forever because it contains an eternal truth. Harmony, both inner and outer, might be the prescription for all that ails us. That’s the easy part.

Finding it is another story. But like anything, once you know what you seek it becomes easier to find.

Speaking of harmony, here’s a song that practically oozes with it. It’s Helplessly Hoping from Crosby, Stills and Nash.

TOMORROW!!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

GALLERY TALK at the PRINCIPLE GALLERY

 GOOD CONVERSATION, ART, SOME LAUGHS,

THE CHANCE TO WIN A PAINTING–AND MORE!!!

BEGINS AT 1 PM.

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Unus Mundus

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 26, 2024| 5 Comments »

GC Myers- Between Order and Chaos

Between Order and Chaos– Coming to Principle Gallery

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.

–Carl Jung

I am busy getting ready this morning for the Gallery Talk I will be presenting this coming Saturday, September 28, at the Principle Gallery, beginning at 1 PM. Part of this preparation is finishing new work and packing up that work as well as the painting that will be given away in a free drawing for those at the talk, along with a few other surprises. You have to come to the talk to know what those will be.

GC Myers- Point of Contact 2016

Point of Contact — You Could Win It!

Along with the new work, I am also bringing four favorites of mine from the past decade. One is the painting above, Between Order and Chaos, shown above. It is a piece that jumped out at me in many ways since it was first painted. The post below from a couple of years back explains one of those aspects.

There is a philosophical concept called Unus Mundus— Latin for One World. Its premise is basically that behind the evident chaos of this world and the universe there is a unifying realm of absolute knowledge on which all existence is based.

It has been around for ages, going back in some form to the ancient Greeks. In the last century, Carl Jung became the biggest advocate of this theory, using it to explain the similarity in the content and construct of the myths and stories of the cultures and their belief systems. Each represents the discovery of some small bit of the order or pattern contained in chaos surrounding this world and becomes a recurring symbol, forming what Jung termed as an archetype. 

I describe an archetype as being how there are universal reactions and interpretations to certain images. One of the main reasons I use the Red Tree and the Red Roof, the Red Chair, and the ball in the sky that serves as the sun/moon is that each translates seamlessly across cultures. You don’t need specific cultural knowledge to understand the reality they symbolize. Each carries universal meaning.

This theory, the Unus Mundus, is what I see as the force behind the new painting at the top, Between Order and Chaos. It’s about how we struggle to create order in the face of constant chaos (represented in the sky’s slashing marks) with the orderliness of the flower beds representing this attempt.

The round flower bed caught in the curve of the path echoes the sun above. I see it somewhat as a symbol of synchronicity, another term coined by Jung. He uses it to explain some coincidences that seem to have some sort of meaning though there is no explanation for this feeling.

A coincidence might be just that or it might be that we have unwittingly come in contact with a strand of the Unus Mundus.

I sometimes feel as I have had fleeting moments of synchronicity but I can’t be sure of that.

How does one really know such a thing?

And I can’t say that we will ever learn more about or understand the Unus Mundus or the meaning of synchronicity, even though it might be for the betterment of us all as a species.

Perhaps we have become too comfortable living in this slice of the universe between order and chaos?

I don’t know. But for now, it’s all we have.

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Choose Well

Posted in Advice, Biographical, Current Events, Poetry, Quote, Video, tagged , , , , , , on September 8, 2020| 2 Comments »

“At times the whole world seems to be in conspiracy to importune you with emphatic trifles. Friend, client, child, sickness, fear, want, charity, all knock at once at thy closet door and say,—’Come out unto us.’ But keep thy state; come not into their confusion. The power men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my act.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson

In my Gallery Talk I spoke about the struggle to go inside myself to create in these crazy days. The outer world and its many problems seems to be keeping me from the inner. It’s a frustration that more or less paralyzes me, requiring me to go put in a lot of extra effort just to get down to work.

I am trying to reconcile this, to somehow get past this feeling.

I came across this snippet above from Emerson and it reminded me that I am the one letting the outer world in. Oh, I know you can’t keep it completely out but I was the one opening the door and inviting it in. I was the one who listened to it as it went on about its problems and thought I could somehow help it out, foolish as that idea seems when I write it out. I went, as Emerson writes, into their confusion.

It also reminds me that I get to choose how I respond to the outer world. And being paralyzed is not a choice. It’s a refusal to choose.

So, I choose to shed the paralysis, to get back to work, to explore those inner paths once more. It’s my choice and what I do.

We all have that power to choose how we react to our own forms of paralysis, fear, anger, frustration and so many other negative aspects of our world. Most likely you don’t need to hear this. You probably know this as well as I. But I know I sometimes fall out of rhythm and have to be reminded once in a while.

The painting at the top is from a few years back and lives now with me in the studio. It’s one of those pieces that really hit high notes personally for me right from the moment it took form on the easel. It’s one of those pieces that surprises me in that it hasn’t yet found a home but also please me because I get to live with it for a bit longer. I thought it echoed with the words of Emerson today. It originally echoed with the words from the Rudyard Kipling poem after which it is named, If.

I was going to include the poem here in print but here’s a fine reading of it by actor John Hurt complete with the words shown. And some powerful black and white images.

Have a good day and choose well.

 

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Virtual Gallery Talk Video Now Online

Posted in Event, Video, tagged , , , , on August 26, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I don’t believe that there’s anything I’d like to do less than watch myself talk. And the last couple of days have sure reinforced that belief.

But that’s what I’ve done for the last couple of days as I have edited the video from Saturday’s Virtual Gallery Talk from the West End Gallery. I am cutting out some rough spots between the segments, such as where I swing my camera around to tour the gallery a bit or the transition from the prize drawing (which has also been cut) to the Q&A segment. Outside of the prize drawing, which we decided to cut because of privacy concerns, no real content has been cut.

There are going to be two videos. This first one presents just my prepared presentation. The second, which will be out  tomorrow or Friday, will have all the segments.

I’ve learned a lot from this experience and expect that these lessons will show up in future videos of even higher quality. Thanks to Jesse, Linda and John at the West End Gallery for all the extra work (and anxiety) that went into making this happen. It was a lot more work than any of us anticipated. And many thanks to everyone who took an hour or two out of a busy summer Saturday to tune and make it all happen. And congratulations to the winners of the paintings. Hope they live up to your expectations!

Hopefully, as it’s being presented, it will give you a fairly representative gallery talk experience. So, for those of you out there who wanted to take part but weren’t able, here’s the first part of my Virtual Gallery Talk from the West End Gallery.

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