Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘gallery talk’

Gallery Talk Saturday

Posted in Favorite Things, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on August 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Private Glow 2016Saturday, August 6, I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery in conjunction with my show, Contact,  that is currently hanging there.  The talk runs from 1 to 2 PM.

If you’ve never been to one of my talks, they are usually pretty free flowing affairs with a lot of back and forth between the participants and me.  I try to make it as interesting and fast moving as I can to make everybody feel engaged and involved in some way.  The really good talks usually have me talking at the audience less and just responding off the cuff to all sorts of questions in a conversational manner.

I never know exactly what’s going to come out of my mouth during these conversational talks.  I try to be absolutely honest in my responses sometimes surprise myself with what I say so, for good or bad, there is that wild card at play as well.

Of course, if you’re aware of my Gallery Talks, you know that I normally have a drawing for an original painting at the end of the talk.  Unsurprisingly, it has become a very popular part of the talks, both for the audience and myself.  For me, I see it as an expression of gratitude for all that they and others have given me in this life as an artist with their enthusiastic support over these many years.  I get a tremendous amount of joy and satisfaction from this part of the talks.

The painting that I have selected to give away at this Gallery Talk is the painting shown at the top, Private Glow.  It is a 12″ by 12″ painting on canvas that has a little story about how it came to this point that I will share at the talk.  It has my favorite Red Tree on an island which very much fits with a current theme in my work.  I think it’s a strong piece in many ways and am pleased to choose it for this talk.

And, of course, there are usually other surprises at the talks.  So if you can take time from a summer Saturday, I invite you to the West End Gallery for this year’s Gallery Talk.

I will do everything I can to make it a good time.  Promise.

Read Full Post »

Afterthoughts

Posted in Biographical, Favorite Things, Motivation, tagged , , , on September 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Elemental Being smYesterday was a day to crash after a somewhat  hectic week, at least by my standards.  It was a week filled with hurried preparation, a lot of driving, some new experiences , meeting new (and old) friends and far more talking than I am used to.  By the time I finally got to stop yesterday afternoon, I laid down on the floor of my studio next to Hobie, my loving studio cat who had her nose slightly bent out of joint by my absences in the past week, and closed my eyes and quickly fell to sleep to the rhythms of Hobie’s incredibly loud purr of satisfaction.  It was the most satisfying little nap I had taken in some time.

The Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery on Sunday started slowly with a smaller group at its beginning that grew and grew as the time passed until the space was crowded.  That’s always nice because it seems that when the group is larger people are more liable to ask questions.  They are almost a little more shy when it is a smaller group and a larger group gives them cover.  But it ended up being a good talk that I think was entertaining and informative with a nice back and forth flow between us.

I know that I enjoyed myself especially when it was time to give away a few things at the end of the talk.  That’s always a fun time for the audience as well as myself.  It sounds goofy and even a little cheesy but I really enjoy being able to do this at my talks.  I’ve said this before but it’s a small token compared to everything that I have received from doing this.  Plus it’s just great to see the faces of people when they get even a small gift.

It was especially satisfying when two small girls, each no more than 9 or 10 I am sure,  each took home something on Sunday.  They were there with their dad and he told me that they had asked to come to the talk.  The family had two of my paintings, one a large Red Tree and another from the Archaeology series, and the girls love them.  One had brought a drawing she had made copying the composition of their Red Tree painting and the other, a lovely small drawing of leaves.  They asked me to sign them for them and I can’t even begin to tell you how much that means to me, how much it moves and amazes me even now as I sit here.

Leija and Scott DeLisi with me Principle Gallery Talk 2015

Leija and Scott DeLisi with me Principle Gallery Talk 2015

Also, another satisfying moment came when I looked over and  saw Ambassador Scott DeLisi and his wife, Leija, slide into two seats.  I was very surprised since only days before Scott was still in Uganda  in his final days as our Ambassador to that nation before taking retirement from a long and distinguished career in our foreign service, serving as our Ambassador to Eritrea, Nepal and Uganda along with prior posts around the globe.  We have had a mutual admiration– they for my painting and me for Scott’s admirable work abroad and for Leija’s wonderful candor– for some time but had never been able to cross paths–I don’t get to Kampala on a regular basis.  So to finally meet them in person  was just great and I felt like I had known them for many, many years.

I am looking forward to seeing Scott’s new role in retirement as he will continue working in the private sector for efforts to improve the lives of people around the world.  All the best to you, Ambassador DeLisi.  Many thanks to Leija and you  for taking the time to stop in on Sunday.

There are a lot more moments and stories to tell from that day as well as my workshop experience of a few days earlier but I am going to wrap this up.  It was  a great week, one that had way more validation than any one more person should get in that time frame.  I am going to let it all soak in for a while then get back to work, refreshed by the kindness of others.

Read Full Post »

Principle Gallery Talk Sunday

Posted in Favorite Things, Motivation, tagged , , , , , on September 16, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Living Flame smI give my annual Gallery Talk this Sunday, September 20, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  These talks generally are pretty loosely formed and easy flowing conversations between the audience and myself, with a lot of audience participation.  That’s a big part of keeping these talks fresh.  Usually something new or different reveals itself in these conversations.

Over the past several years, an added part of these talks has been the drawing for one of my paintings.  It’s not something I take lightly.  As I’ve said in the past, I want to give away paintings where I feel a pang of loss in giving them away, want them to have some sort of meaning for me so that this is not just an empty gesture.

And it is a real gesture of gratitude.  I am nothing but thankful for all that the people who enjoy my work have provided me both through their buying of my work and in the inspiration which they provide away from the galleries.  Their willingness to examine and respond to my work makes it so much easier to share those things that often stem from places deep inside.  As a result, I try to carefully choose the works that I give away, not wanting to just go the far corner of the closet where I hide those early experiments that make me grimace to look at them now.

I want the selection to matter.  This year’s selection is definitely in this vein.  Shown above, it is titled Living Flame and is a 10″ by 18″ painting on paper.  It is under glass inside an 18″ by 26″ frame so it has some size.  It is painted very much in the style on which my body of work was formed with transparent washes and organic shapes, all surrounding the central figure of the Red Tree.  It is airy and quiet but contemplative, a piece that in many ways could sum up much of my work.

So, I am pleased with this year’s selection and hope you can make it into Old Town for this year’s Gallery Talk which starts at 1 PM.  There are always a few other surprises so I hope you’re there.

Read Full Post »

Sunbeam Unreal

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , on September 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- SunbeamThe aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance, and this, and not the external manner and detail, is true reality.
—Aristotle
***************

This new painting, a small 6″ by 12″ canvas that will going with me to Alexandria this coming Sunday for my Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery,  intrigues me on many levels but mainly in the way in which it challenges my own perception of reality.

I wondered how light would appear in a world that gave it different properties.  For instance, what if instead of a sun, that ever-burning orb in the sky, our light was provided by a ring of light that cut across the sky?  And what if the source of light was darker than the light it provided?  How would it affect how we looked at our world?

The odd thing is that my mind accepts the reality that was created.  And that speaks to the words of Aristotle at the top of the page.  The significance of a piece of art is in how our mind interprets the reality of it, in how it connects  with our inner needs and perceptions.

For me, this small painting works on those terms.  It is warm and inviting and familiar even though the reality of the setting is alien to me.  I feel as comfortable–  perhaps even more– in this environment as I would in a perfectly represented image of the real world in which we live.

And that is all I ask of it…

Read Full Post »

Sunday on a Mastodon

Posted in Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , , on September 13, 2015| 1 Comment »

Heidevolk Sunday on a Mastodon Vulgaris MagistralisIt’s a pretty busy Sunday morning as I am in the midst of prepping for a two day workshop I’m giving this week in Penn Yan followed by my annual Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria next Sunday.  More details on that in the next few days.

So while I am a little tight on time this week I wanted to keep up with my habit of playing some Sunday music.  This week is a bit of an oddity and is nowhere near where I thought the song might end up.  I stumbled across this video from a a Dutch group called Heidevolk which  translates as  “heather folk.”  They consider themselves to be a pagan folk metal band and base their music on Germanic mythology and ancient pagan themes.

Yikes!

Not what I envisioned for this morning but this song and video made me laugh and I found myself myself kind of half singing along by the end.  It’s called Vulgaris Magistralis and is about some sort of mythic figure  who hides from sight like a Yeti  but comes out to ride around on his mammoth.

And on Sunday he rides a mastodon.  So if you’re out there today and get cut off in traffic by a guy on a hairy elephant, be careful– it might be Vulgaris Magistralis.  And his road rage is epic.

Have a great day!

 

Read Full Post »

Outlaw’s Vigil

Posted in Biographical, Early Paintings, Favorite Things, Motivation, tagged , , , , , on August 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Outlaw's VigilAt last weekend’s Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery I was asked if there was work that I do for myself alone and I replied that there is, that I sometimes do small pieces in moments of frustration or anger that I won’t share with the outside world.  I feel that even a person living the most transparent of lives should not share every waking thought.  And I probably share more than I should as it is.

This question led to a short description of the work from my earlier Exiles and Outlaws series, both of which I have written here a number of times in the past.  The Outlaws series probably was closer as an answer to the question posed to me that day, consisting of images that examined the darker aspects that make up the prism of our personality.  The central characters in these pieces were often armed with handguns and were definitely haunted by their past actions, existing in a state of fear.

At least, that is how I saw them.  Some others saw them as predatory stalkers who might be lurking outside their own windows.  It was an interpretation that I wasn’t initially expecting when I painted this work. But it might make sense, given the fear and sometimes paranoia that feeds our obsession with guns.

The piece above, Outlaw’s Vigil, is from that series and hangs in my studio now.  It is a prime example of the differing perceptions of the work.  Many have seen him as a potential danger, a symbol of imminent evil, while I see him as a person filled with absolute fear, always looking over his shoulder to see what is coming upon him from behind, from his past.  He is forever frozen in this instance of terror.  There is no looking ahead, no future.

Odd as it might seem, this small painting is inspirational to me.  It serves as an object lesson, an example of how I do not want to exist in this world.  I do not want to live in fear of the past or so fearful of others that I cling to a gun in my own home, peeking out my windows.  This piece lets me know that I want to live a fearless life.  It may ultimately be a fool’s mission but it makes this odd little painting priceless to me.

Read Full Post »

Gallery Talk Today (With Prizes!)

Posted in Biographical, Current Events, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , on August 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers Destiny Bound framedIn everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.

—Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder

************************************

If you’re in the Corning area this afternoon, I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery beginning at 1 PM.  My talks usually consist of some biographical background, a few stories about the paintings as well as some other things and honest answers to any questions asked of me.  Oh, and it comes to an end with a drawing for the painting above, Destiny Bound.

I try to make it as entertaining and informative as possible, usually just speaking off the cuff.  Sometimes there is a theme, other times there is not.  I may have a theme for today and perhaps the quote from author Raymond Chandler points to what it might be. Or not.  Maybe I just like and agree with this quote.  Or maybe the talk will go ina completely different direction right from the start.

I won’t know until I’m standing there and open my mouth for the first time.  These talks are kind of like my painting– sometimes I have an idea of where I want them to go and they go to a place I never saw coming.  And sometimes those unexpected places are the most gratifying.  So, we’ll see where we end up today.

Hope you can make it.

Read Full Post »

Quote of the Week: Fellini

Posted in Biographical, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on July 30, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers-Transmitters smAll art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.

—Federico Fellini

*****************

I love this quote from legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini and the image of us all having a pearl inside ourselves, just waiting to be revealed to the outer world.  It’s a pearl that is formed from the experiences and observations that make up our lives.

It fits well  with the theme for the Gallery Talk that takes place Saturday at the West End Gallery in Corning.  I plan on talking about  how art has transformed my life and how that transformation has made its way into my work.  In short, how my own simple pearl was formed and  brought to light.

An example of that might be in the painting at the top, a very new work that will be shown for the first time on Saturday called Transmitters which is 10″ by 20″ on canvas.  I see it as being about the need to communicate, about how we seek  and reach out to like-minded people throughout our lives.  For me this has been one of the biggest needs that  painting has fulfilled for me.  It has provided a platform for me to express thoughts and emotions that I would struggle to express in any other way.  In doing so it has created a path forward to reaching others who share similar thoughts and emotions.

So here the pearl is the Red Tree and it reaches across space to others who feel they have their own Red Tree within.  Hopefully, knowing that allows them to open their own shells and share it with the world.

Well, that might be part of what I’ll be talking about on Saturday.  Who knows what might come up?

Read Full Post »

“Home+Land” + Gallery Talk + Prize

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Painting, tagged , , , , , , on July 27, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers Destiny Bound framedThis coming Saturday, August 1, I will be giving a Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery in support of my current show, Home+Land, that is hanging there.  It starts at 1 PM and, as many of you who regularly read this blog will know, ends with a drawing where one person in attendance will take home a painting of mine.

It’s something I’ve done for several years now at my Gallery Talks  and is something that really gives me great pleasure.  I’ve always felt so fortunate to have found my current life as a painter that this allows me to express my gratitude in a tangible way.  As a result, I try to carefully choose the works that I give away, not wanting to just go the far corner of the closet where I hide those early experiments that make me grimace to look at them now.

No, I want to give away paintings where I feel a pang of loss in giving them away, want them to have some sort of meaning for me so that this is not just an empty gesture. So, for this Saturday’s drawing, I have chosen the painting shown above.  It’s called Destiny Bound and is a 16″ by 20″ canvas so it has the size to give it a real presence.  It’s a painting that was only shown publicly once for a very short time before I brought it back to the studio.  It is sort of an anomaly in my body of work in the way it is framed, using a gold-leafed plein air frame rather than my signature frame.  I tried this frame style for a handful of pieces several years ago and decided that I wanted to stay solely with the continuity of my normal frames.  This is the one painting that remains in a gold frame and I chose to keep it as I’ve just become used to seeing it that way.

So, even though it has a unique overall appearance for my work, the painting itself is what I consider a great example of what has been called my Dark Work, work that first appeared in the months after 9/11 but has evolved over the years.  I am really attracted to overall presence of this painting and the deep colors and line work as well. And the expressiveness of the tree on the right.  That tree  has always felt like it pays tribute in some way to Thomas Hart Benton with its curves and lines.  While it reminds me of some his figures or trees, off the top of my head I can’t cite a particular painting of his that might feature such a tree or figure.

But that connection and the way the tree seems animated jumps out at me whenever I look at this piece. I just plain like this painting.  And I am giving it away on Saturday.  So, stop in at the West End Gallery on Saturday for what I hope will be an entertaining talk and maybe you can take  Destiny Bound home with you.  The talk starts at 1 PM and generally lasts about an hour.  Hope to see you there.

Read Full Post »

Blue Awakening

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , on July 16, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Blue Awakening smThe deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural… The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white.

–Wassily Kandinsky

********************

Certain colors always raise a strong visceral response from me.  I think my use of reds and yellows is evidence of this as is my affinity for the color blue, which I’ve discussed here.  Maybe Kandinsky hits the mark with his words: it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural.  

I know for myself those are feelings that often are driven forward when I work with the color blue.  There is often a contemplative feeling, one that wonders at the unknown, that infinite, that we seek, that comes with the color.  I see it in the painting at the top.

Called Blue Awakening, this 18″ by 24″ painting on panel has a simplified and almost naive appearance at first glance.  But the blue of the sky set against the pale whiteness of the moon changes the piece from a folksy vignette to one of meditative wonderment.  The Red Tree here takes on a glow that speaks of a new understanding or acceptance of its place and purpose in the universe.  It represents a true awakening of the spirit for me.

The interesting thing for me is that there is not a tremendous amount of blue in the painting.  There are a few tones throughout the lower landscaped  half of the painting and much of the sky are tones that move away from blue.  But the blue that is there commands the space, creating the overall feeling of the piece.  Such is the power of blue.

This painting is, of course, part of my solo show, Home+Land, which is now hanging at the West End Gallery and opens with a reception tomorrow evening from 5-7:30.  The show runs from July 17 until September 4, 2015 and there is a Gallery Talk  on Saturday, August 1.  More info on that in the next couple of weeks.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »