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Posts Tagged ‘gallery talk’

Exiles: Cain/ Redux

Posted in Early Paintings, Influences, Quote, tagged , , , , , on September 13, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- CainI brought up a reference in last week’s Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery that I would share here again.  It’s about a posting that appeared here about five years ago, one that focused on one of the paintings from my Exiles series from around 1995.  It’s a painting that I would never part with for many reasons but mainly for the meaning it holds for me in changing the course of my life at one point.

In 2008, I wrote:

I thought I’d take a moment and show this painting, Cain, another from the Exiles series that I’ve discussed in past posts.  This is a smallish piece and one of my favorites, one with which  I will never part.

He is based, somewhat, on the biblical story of the original exile, one expelled from his homeland after slaying his brother  to create a new world for himself, never to return.  It is also based on the novel Demian by Hermann Hesse, a book that meant much to me when I went through a trying time years ago.  Actually, it seems a lifetime ago.

In Demian, Hesse uses the mark of Cain as a symbol for those seeking the truth in themselves.  He also discusses the dual nature of man, an idea which has had a very formative aspect in my growth as a painter.  The idea of opposing forces, light and dark,  being contained in one element, one being, always struck a chord in me.  It made sense of the struggles that I observed in myself and many others.

He also made a statement that resonated like a gigantic bell tolling for me.

Whoever wants to be born, must first destroy a world.

Without going into detail, that small sentence was a revelation.  It changed my world forever.

I realize this is a fragmented explanation of this painting and the book that influenced it.  I merely wanted to illustrate what personal meaning some pieces can have for an artist as well the serendipitous nature of moments when art and one’s real life converge.

Maybe I will elaborate in the future.  Maybe not…

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Principle Gallery Talk 2013

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on September 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Principle Gallery - Talk 2013Well, this year’s Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery is over, having taken place this past Saturday.   I have done this talk for the past eleven years, always in conjunction with the Alexandria King Street Art Festival, which fills the well known street in Old Town with artists and artisans from around the country.  It was an absolutely beautiful,  sun-filled day in Alexandria  so I was so grateful for the group of folks who took time from their day to stop in.  I think the talk went fairly well although in the aftermath I felt, as always, that I missed many vital points that I had wanted to touch on.  But hopefully I made some cogent points and everyone came away with a bit more info about my work.

The highlight of the talk was, of course, the giving away of the painting Ode to Whitman, a piece that I have featured here in recent days.  For the last six years or so, I have given away a piece every year at this event and an interesting phenomenon has began to take shape.  I normally ask someone to come up and draw from the container of entries.  The first year went without incident with the chosen person reaching in and picking a name from the assembled audience.  However, prior to Saturday, the person chosen to come up and draw has pulled their own name in two of the last four years.  I am not a mathematician but the odds of a person reaching into a contained held above their head and pulling their own name from a group of 50 to 75 entries seems as though they might be kind of high.

So, when the time came for the drawing I asked if anyone felt lucky and explained the history.  A young lady in the front row agreed to come up and I jokingly asked her to show me her hands so that I could make sure she wasn’t cupping a slip of paper.  We all laughed and she reached up and drew a folded slip of paper.  As I opened the slip I heard her gasp, “Omigod, that’s me!”  I thought she was kidding then  realized that it was indeed her.  I joked that she better show me some ID before I hand over the painting.

But the painting was hers.   She was so grateful, claiming that she was one of those people who never wins anything.   Well, things change and I hope that that painting which holds meaning for me comes to have meaning for her as well.  If that fortunate person is out there reading this, I am sorry  but your name evades me this morning so drop me a line to refresh my memory.

Many thanks to all who made it to the talk.  It was an honor to be able to talk with you all and a pleasure to hear your thoughts and stories.  One of the great rewards for me as an artist is having people share their life experiences with me, feeling comfortable in doing so  because of the bond they feel through the work.  It is a humbling affirmation of the power of art.  Again, many thanks for all that you have shared through the years.  It very much enriches the work.

Many thanks to Clint, Jessica and Julia at the Principle Gallery for taking care of the details and making me feel comfortably at home there, as always.  And thanks to gallery owner Michele Ward  (actually, now gallery mogul as she recently announced the acquisition of the M Gallery of Fine Art in historic Charleston, SC) for her continued support of my work through the years.  Though my work is wildly divergent from the typical work in her gallery, she has always maintained a belief in the work, something which has carried me through the peaks and valleys of what has turned into a career.

Hope to do it again  next year!

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Saturday Gallery Talk at the Principle

Posted in Biographical, tagged , , on September 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers-Ode to Whitman

“Ode to Whitman” Will Be the Prize in a Free Drawing Saturday!

I am running around today, trying to arrange everything for my quick trip down to Virginia tomorrow  where I will giving my annual Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Old Town Alexandria, which starts at 1 PM.  A little framing and some paperwork  then hopefully I can concentrate on my talk although if you’ve read this blog for long you know that I generally speak off the cuff in these talks, trying to create a conversation with the audience that allows them to sort of dictate what sort of information comes out.

Sometimes that means talking about technique, which is okay but not my favorite thing to stay on for long, mainly because I think it is a limited subject of interest for the whole audience.  I just can’t imagine anyone be overly interested in my choice of brush or paint unless they themselves paint or unless these things themselves are the focus of the work.  But I will talk about anything including technique though I prefer to talk about creativity, about motivations and influences, those things that propel the work forward regardless of the how-to aspect behind it.

I am always a bit nervous about these events.  It’s not just the nerves that come with talking before a group of people– that’s understandable and easy to work past.  Rather, I worry about sometimes sharing too much information, revealing more of myself than my work, as revealing as it often is, has shown.  I sometimes beat myself up on the ride home over things I have said during these off the cuff talks, wishing that I hadn’t told this story or that story about my life.   I often wish I were that mysterious artist who just produces the work without a word.  But that is not the path I followed as an artist.  I let my life be part of my work, my memories and emotions as integral to the work as the paint or the brush.

What I am struggling to say here is that I never know what i will say which is sometimes  a scary thing but sometimes makes for an interesting talk.  I guess you’ll have to come out tomorrow to see what I mean.

And…. if you do come to the show you can enter a free drawing for the painting at the top, Ode to Whitman, a 12″ by 24″ painting on canvas that was the subject of my blog a few days ago.  Plus, there will a few more  small surprises as well.  So I hope you can make it tomorrow.  1 PM, Principle Gallery, King Street, Alexandria Virginia.

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The New Revelator

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , on September 5, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers-The New Revelator smI usually take a small group of new work with me for the Gallery Talk I give each September at the Principle Gallery, which takes place this Saturday at the Alexandria gallery.  It’s nice to have a few new pieces to illustrate some of the points I am trying to make during the talk.  This is one of the new paintings that will be going with me, The New Revelator, a 16″ by 34″ piece on paper.

I’ve been finishing this piece over the last few days and it has underwent a dramatic transformation during the last stages, one that took it from a piece that was struggling to find its identity to one that has what I feel is a powerful presence.  When I look at it I see the bands in the field that run towards the center as being not only a crop but as a representation of some sort of communal knowledge or power that runs through our world, unseen.  The Red Tree stands at the center, joining this gathering knowledge with the greater power of the universe  that I see represented here by the open horizon behind it.  There is an ethereal quality in the descending hills, one that gives a feeling of movement through time especially when coupled with the breaking sky.  The Red Tree is the new revelator here, exposing the hidden powers of the universe to those who want to see.

That might seem a bit of a stretch for some, as far as what they see in this painting.  Again, I remind you that this is only what I see here, what this painting holds for me in an emotional sense.  You might see it as simply a landscape with interesting forms and colors.  That is good enough.  Or you may not like it all which, too, is okay.  Whatever the case, the painting stands as it  now, hopefully revealing something for you.

The New Revelator will be at the Principle Gallery this Saturday.  My Gallery Talk there starts at 1 PM and I will be in the gallery before and after if you would like to stop in and say hello.

For now, here’s an interesting version of the great old Blind Willie Johnson song, John the Revelator, from Nick Cave, who always seems to have a unique take on most things.

 

 

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Orphans/ Ode to Whitman

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , , , , , , on September 3, 2013| 2 Comments »

GC Myers-Ode to Whitman Orphans is the word I use to describe the paintings that don’t find a home.  I’ve been fortunate in my career that there haven’t really been that many so that the ones that do keep coming back to me take on a special significance, especially the ones that I felt were somehow special beforehand.  It may be the extra time I get to spend with them, examining them again and again to see if there is some inherent flaw or lack of fire that keeps someone from making it their own, that gives it this significance.  I spend much more time with these orphans than those paintings that quickly find a home.

Ode to Whitman is such an orphan, it being a piece has toured the country and has yet to find a home.  It saddens me a bit when I look at this painting because I do see the spirit of Walt Whitman in this piece, at least as he translates into my own psyche.  Though quiet in nature, the Red Tree here is celebrating its very being and could be embodying Whitman’s verse:

I too am not a bit tamed,

I too am untranslatable,

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

These were words that were very influential in the formation of my artistic voice.  They dared me to stand apart.  They challenged me to reveal my inner self to the world, to let my light shine.  To let my yawp go free.

And that is what I see in this  piece.  It as though once the yawp has been released, even as the surrounding trees seem to be recoiling from its sound and fury, a placid pall has come into the center of its being.  It is calm now that it knows who it is, what it is.

As you can tell, I see and feel a lot in this simple painting.  I guess that is why it pulls at me to think of it as orphan.  That’s why I am going to give this piece a home and this is going to be the painting that will be given away at the Gallery Talk this coming Saturday at the Principle Gallery, which starts at 1 PM.  I know that it will find a good home in this way because someone who didn’t like my work would not spend an hour of their time listening to me talk about it.

So I hope you can make it  to the talk and that, if you’re the one who takes Ode to Whitman home , you realize the feeling that it carries with it.

Here’s another bit of Whitman that like, from the preface to his landmark Leaves of Grass:

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”

 

 

 

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What Next?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on August 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers Sea Call My annual show at the West End Gallery in Corning ended yesterday which leads to the question: What’s next on the horizon?

Well, for starters, next Saturday, September 7, I will be at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA for my annual Gallery Talk there. It’s normally a pretty good time with some laughs and, hopefully, some real information passed along.  If you’ve never been to one, don’t expect a lot of technical mumbo jumbo that might scare you away.  Oh, be assured, I will answer any question about technique  but I try to focus more on the stories behind the work.  Motivations, meaning and emotional content.  And maybe a story or two.

Plus, as in the past few years, there will be a free drawing for one of my original paintings.  I try to make the work that I give away special and this year’s piece is one of my favorite orphans.  It has meaning for me and hopefully will as well for whoever takes it home.  So, if you’re in the Old Town area next Saturday afternoon, stop in at the Principle and maybe win a painting.  I If you don’t win, I’ll try to at least make the time seem  well spent.  Hope you can make it.

After that, my focus will turn to my final show of 2013, which will open November 23  ( my early morning mistake– it is actually the 16th!) at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.   I’ve been showing at the Kada since 1996 and  owners Kathy and Joe DeAngelo have always done a great job for my work and my shows there, so I always  do my best to provide some very special work.  This year’s show is titled Alchemy and I promise that there will have some interesting work to support that title.

I will, of course, provide more details in the upcoming months.

For the moment, that is what in store for the next few months.  Got to get to work!

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Retelling the Tale

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, tagged , , , on August 8, 2013| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- The Eternal Gift At last week’s Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery, there was a question about the painting shown here, The Eternal Gift.  The questioner  wanted about the two different colors for the foliage in the trees, especially since I seldom use green in my central trees.  I explained that this how I chose to translate the story of Baucis and Philemon from Greek mythology, one of my favorite stories.  I gave a quick synopsis of the story explaining that I first used this imagery of two different trees entwining and growing together  to illustrate this tale a few years ago a when I was commissioned to do so by a couple celebrating their anniversary.

I thought I would take this opportunity to relate the story again here, as I wrote about it back in 2010:

I often get requests for commissioned work but usually am not excited by the prospect of being dictated to in the creation of my work, actually turning down many that get too specific in their requirements. I want my paintings to reflect my thought process and emotion as well as my craft. As a result, I have an informal set of rules that let me have free rein in the creation of the work so that the painting is allowed to form in an organic way. Not forced, which often takes away the vitality of many pieces, in my opinion. 

But this particular request is unlike many others that I receive. They want this piece to relate the story of the classic myth of Baucis and Philemon, which is the tale of a poor but happy couple who are unknowingly visited by Zeus and Hermes disguised as dusty travelers. Beggars, really. The two gods had went door to door among their neighbors seeking hospitality and were rebuffed in every attempt, often with harsh words. Zeus became angry as door after door was slammed in his face. Finally, they came to the door of the shack of Baucis and Philemon, the poorest looking home they had yet approached. 

Upon knocking, they were greeted warmly by an elderly couple who welcomed them in to their simple but cleanhome and treated them with what little they had in the way of food and drink. They were gracious and hospitable, seeking to give comfort to the strangers. As the night wore on, the couple, who had been serving their simple wine to the travelers from a pitcher, noticed that the pitcher stayed full even after many pours. They began to suspect that these were not mere beggars but were, in fact, gods. 

They apologized to the gods for not having much to put before them then offered to catch their prized goose, which was really a pet, and cook it for them. The old couple chased the goose around the shack until finally the frightened creature found sanctuary on the laps of the gods. Stroking the now safe goose, Zeus then informed them of their identities and, after complimenting on their hospitality and of the mean-spiritedness of their neighbors, told them to follow them. They climbed upon a rise and Zeus told them to look back. Where once their town had stood was nothing but water, from a deluge that had washed away everything, including all who had insulted Zeus. From where their poor home had been, a majestic golden-roofed temple with sparkling marble pillars rose from the receding waters. 

Zeus told the couple that this was their new home and asked what wish he could grant them. They asked that they be made priests, guardians of this temple and that they should always remain together until the ends of their lives. Seeing their obvious love for each other, Zeus readily agreed. The couple lived for many more years together, reaching a prodigious age. One day they stood together and all the past moments from their life and love together flooded over them. Baucis saw leaves and limbs sprouting from Philemon and realized that the same thing was happening to her. On the plain outside the temple, they transformed into two trees, an oak and a linden, that grew from the same trunk, their limbs intertwined, eternally together. 

That’s a simple re-telling of the tale but I think you can see why this couple might want a symbol of this story to mark their time together…

[The painting shown here, The Eternal Gift, is part of my current show and is available at the West End Gallery.  It is a 10″ by 18″ image on paper.]

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Talk OD

Posted in Favorite Things, Painting, tagged , , on August 2, 2013| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- The Prodigal SightI OD’d yesterday.

No, not on drugs.

Talk.  Straight, pure, unadulterated talking.

I gave my Gallery Talk yesterday at the West End Gallery to a group  people who just let me keep going on and on, sometimes egging me on with questions and comments that opened up new veins of info.  Enablers, that’s what they were.  By the time I was home, I was physically wiped out from all of the talking.   Seriously.

But, all kidding aside, I think it was worth it.  The talk went very well thanks to a wonderful group of folks who chose to spend an hour or two with me at the gallery.  They were attentive and inquisitive, asking questions that allowed us to cover a lot of material.  If it was a successful talk, it was all due to their good graces.  I send out a hearty thank you to everyone who attended.  You certainly made my task easier and for that I am truly appreciative.

We also had a drawing and awarded the painting above, The Prodigal Sight, to Steve M. from Corning, someone who I have known through the gallery for many years but did not yet have a painting of mine.  This was a painting that had only shown once a few years back and had remained with me in the studio since, along with a mere handful of pieces from each year that had returned to stay with me, their qualities yet to be discovered and enjoyed by someone willing to take them in.

Orphans, of a sort.

I commented that these pieces that stay around for a bit become so familiar and fond to me, more so sometimes than the more wildly successful pieces that quickly leave the studio and galleries never to be seen again.  I noticed that the frame on this piece had a slightly darkened edge where I had picked it up in the same spot many times over the past few years.  Seeing this made me realize how often I do gaze at these few pieces in the studio that haven’t yet found homes, wondering why the things I see in them haven’t become obvious to others.  I imagine that is how a parent sometimes feels about their child, seeing their better qualities above their flaws.

Anyway,I am glad that this piece has found a home, one in which I am sure it will be highly regarded.

Again, thank you to everyone who came to the West End Gallery yesterday.  I truly enjoyed my binge but now I am off to rehab in the quiet of my studio.  It’s a strictly”no talk” zone today.

 

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Thoughts on a Talk

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on September 10, 2012| 1 Comment »

I gave my annual gallery talk at the Principle Gallery this past Saturday.  As I have noted here in the past, this is always a somewhat nerve-wracking time for me, something that might surprise you if you met me beforehand.  I try to hide my fear and I think I do a pretty decent job.  It must be similar to what an actor goes through in assuming a role, setting aside some parts of yourself and pushing forward those parts of yourself that you think fill fit the character you’re attempting to portray.

That’s always something I think about before these talks, this paradox of an artist doing a public talk, especially one that bases their work on emotional expression rather than technique and craftsmanship.  They generally work in a most private way that allows them to better tap into their observational abilities and sensitivities, which are not traits well suited to a public forum.  But I have come to realize that this part of the deal that I have made with those folks who like my work and find something of value in it.  I owe it to them to speak honestly and openly even if it sometimes feels a bit too personal and confessional.  My work is both and talking about it requires a truthful telling.

Of course, that often borders on self-indulgence.  I know I feel pretty selfish standing up there and talking about my work,  a feeling that often eats at  me in the aftermath of these things.  But I realize that the people that attend these talks have usually connected in some way with the work and have an interest in the story behind it.  They may not see me as being as selfish as I often  feel at these talks.

I sure hope they don’t.

If they do, they hide it most graciously.  The crowd Saturday was wonderful, as they generally are, and inquisitive.  There were many familiar faces and some new ones as well.  There were a number of comments and questions which always carries the talk along.  I spoke about how I came to painting, the story behind some of the icons such as the Red Tree and Red Chair and how the work has evolved.   I also spoke about how I view and interpret the work.  One participant, Dino Drudi, gave his interpretation of the painting shown above, Fire in the Heart.

He saw it as  me being  the Red Tree  and the art elites and academics being  represented by the purple of  the fields in the foreground.  The path that most artists follow goes through that purple allowing the elites to exert their rules and judgments over them.  I have chosen to not follow that path and have instead made a moated  refuge for myself where I defend my work from these rules and judgments.   I’m probably leaving out some details.  It was interesting and there may be some validity to what Dino pointed out as I do often consider myself an outsider to the larger art world.  But I’ll still have to chew on that for a bit before I concede anything.

So, many thanks to all who made it to the talk.  The  inspiration  that comes from your kind and gracious comments carries me for weeks and weeks in the studio.  There were many in attendance who I didn’t get a chance to speak with afterwards and  for that I apologize and hope that  I get to speak with you again soon.  Thank you so much for making me feel so welcomed and comfortable which means a lot for someone who feels uncomfortable in most situations.

Now, time for me to get back to work.

 

 

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Gallery Talk, Again

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on August 5, 2010| 2 Comments »

Whenever I write about politics or an issue associated with it such as supply-side economics, as I have in the past week, I feel like I may be getting out of my depth in the pool.  So, today I’m back where i’m a bit more comfortable and my feet are planted solidly on the pool’s bottom.  Today, at 12 noon, I have my annual Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery in Corning.

I have done these all over and sometimes they go very well and sometimes less so.  Usually, at the West End, there is a certain degree of familiarity with many of the folks who come to listen which makes it a very comfortable setting for me.  One of the biggest challenges in doing these discussions at one gallery over a period of time is having new information to give to the listeners, who may have heard me a number of times.  They have heard the stories about how I fell from my ladder and started painting (not at the same time), have heard how I came to show at the West End, have heard how the Red Tree evolved, etc.  They want to hear something new.

So we usually talk about new things in my work.  In past years, it’s been the Archaeology series.  This year, it’s the gray work.  There are always a few artists who want to talk technique but I try to keep it away from going that way too much.  I think the motivations and stories behind the paintings are far more interesting than what hue of yellow I use. 

One piece I’m sure that I will be asked about is the painting above, Auld Lang Syne, with its Red Chairs and green-leafed central tree.  I am always asked about the chairs, either what meaning they hold or, in some pieces, how and why they came to be hanging in trees.  I try to remember to ask the questioner what they see in the piece before I answer.  Sometimes the answers open new windows for me in how I see my own work.

So, I’m off to talk today.  If you’re in Corning today, please stop in.  It could be an interesting hour…

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