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Posts Tagged ‘New Painting’

GC Myers- The Old Man smNone are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David Thoreau

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This is a new painting that measures 12″ by 6″ on panel and is part of my show at the West End Gallery that opens in about two weeks, on July 22.

I  call it The Old Man.

For me it symbolizes someone in their final years and days of life who has lost enthusiasm for this world, who sees it as a place that has changed beyond all recognition or comprehension.  It is no longer their world, which feels like an alien landscape in which they are stranded.

They feel detached from the lifeblood of the now and of the future, clinging to what remains of the past in their memories and connections, both which grow smaller and smaller with the passing of time.  After a time, even pulling from that field of memory brings no joy.

It becomes a painful waiting game beneath an unblinking sun.

That sounds sad, I know.  But there is something positive in it as well.  I see this as a cautionary piece, one that warns against disengaging from the world even as it changes from that which we have known and accepted.  The world keeps on moving and we must remain enthusiastic and find new joy in this ever changing world.

That’s my take on this painting, most likely formed from some personal observations. Perhaps you will see something other than this when you look at this image, something that jibes with your view of the world.

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GC Myers- The PauseThe right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
Mark Twain

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The painting shown here is titled The Pause and is 16″ by 16″ on paper.  It is included in my upcoming show, Contact, at the West End Gallery which opens on July 22.

I am a big believer in the pause as a form of communication.  That brief moment of silence between words said and words not yet spoken, that small period of inaction between actions, is often filled with a great and ponderous anticipation of what might come next.  In that tiny span of emptiness there is both a look backward at all that has come before and ahead at all that the future might bring.  The pause allows for contemplation of both.

Okay, now that may be putting the importance of a pause in larger than life terms.  Not every pause holds all the past and all the future.  But every pause allows consideration and thought of the immediate past and future, giving that moment a certain degree of importance.

I learned the lesson of pausing from the many gallery talks I have given over the years.  Halting for just a moment to ponder the question asked or the statement made is far more effective than simply beginning to speak.  That was a difficult thing to do at first when it sometimes seemed like every moment needs to be filled with sound and content to cover my insecurity.  But I learned that that moment of silence was not a bad thing at all.  It showed an appreciation of the question or statement, showed that I heard what was being said and showed that I wanted really consider how I would answer.

Moving back to larger terms, the pause works in much the same way.  The pause takes the past and brings it into the present and makes it part of the decision for the future.  The pause consoles us as to what has failed us in the past and what has succeeded.  It cautions us against rash and impetuous actions.

The pause is a deep breath that freshens us, allowing us to take in the world around us and to refocus, to reconsider our words and actions.  The pause allows us to see other paths leading forward.

The pause can be a potent force, if only we choose to use it.

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GC Myers- Bearable VastnessShe had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. 
Carl Sagan, Contact

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This year’s title for my annual solo show at the West End Gallery, which opens July 22, is Contact.  It has nothing to do with the famous Carl Sagan novel of the same name about our first encounter with an advanced alien life form, which was also made into a film with Jodie Foster.  But even though there is no real relationship between the Sagan story and this show, I did come across the quote above from the book that meshes very well with what I see as the theme of this show and much of my work in general:  how we cope with our role is as small and insignificant creatures in an endlessly vast and cold universe.

The painting above is from the show and is a 20″ by 30″ canvas titled Bearable Vastness.  I think, going back to the quote, that the Red Tree here has come to realize that the only thing that will bring it the peace of mind to accept its place as a tiny being in a vast universe of powerful forces beyond its comprehension is to work to achieve love in some way in its own time and place.

Put simply, love is the answer.

I know that in the current environment of terror, anger, hatred and outright stupidity that these words sound absolutely naive.

Maybe.

But I have never known of a time when anger and hatred and violence and ignorance have spawned anything but more of the same.  Never has a lasting peace risen from hatred and intolerance of others.  Nothing positive has ever been built on a foundation of hatred, anger and fear.  Only demagogues and dictators rise from that swamp.  For them, love is always replaced with fear and cynicism.

Maybe you still will call it naive.  So be it.  That’s your cross to bear.  As for me, while the universe is vast and uncaring I will always choose love as the way to somehow endure it.

It’s the only choice I could possibly make.

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GC Myers- To the Watchtower smI’m a little tired, mainly of talking about my work and myself, and want to keep this short today.  I thought I’d show another painting from the show at the Principle Gallery and couple it with the song that spawned it.  The painting above is titled To the Watchtower  which I derived from the old Bob Dylan song All Along the Watchtower.

I thought it might serve as a good metaphor for what will be my final plea for your help in our efforts to raise funds for the Soarway Foundation, a campaign that ends today.  By donating, you can possibly win a painting of mine but the more important thing is that you are reaching out to those in need, people who don’t expect your help, don’t feel entitled to it but desperately need it.

Like the Red Tree in the painting, we often place ourselves on islands, seemingly insulated from the rest of the world and hopefully immune to the ills and woes of it.  I openly acknowledge that I am prone to this.  But we are not islands.  We are connected to the world.  It’s knowing that we are part of a greater whole that is the basis for the empathy that keeps this world together.  So, even while we try to stay put on our island we must man that watchtower and stay vigilant to the suffering of others.

Reach out.  Help someone.  Maybe you don’t give a tinker’s damn about people on the other side of the globe.  So be it.  Then help someone in your neighborhood. Your town. Your country.

Just help someone…

But I am asking for your help today by going to the link at the bottom.  If you can or if you already have, I thank you mightily.  If not, like I say, help someone else.

Reach out.

Thanks.  Here’s the classic Jimi Hendrix version of Dylan’s song.

https://www.crowdrise.com/artists-engaging-nepal
 

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GC Myers- Archaeology- The Golden Age Beyond smThe past slips from our grasp. It leaves us only scattered things. The bond that united them eludes us. Our imagination usually fills in the void by making use of preconceived theories…Archaeology, then, does not supply us with certitudes, but rather with vague hypotheses. And in the shade of these hypotheses some artists are content to dream, considering them less as scientific facts than as sources of inspiration.

-Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music in the Form – Six Lessons

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This is a new Archaeology painting that is included in Part of the Pattern, my solo show at the Principle Gallery which opens Friday June 3.  It is titled Archaeology: The Golden Age Beyond and is an 18″ by 24″ canvas.  It is the first new true Archaeology piece that I’ve done in several years and this piece really seems to connect with the original group of this work for me in its narrative element and dramatic effect.

I absolutely love the thought that the great composer Igor Stravinsky shares above.  It seems to fit so well with what I was thinking when I was working on this particular Archaeology painting.  Each bit of detritus seems separate and unconnected with the next yet my mind was always trying to see what the hidden connection between them might be or how they came together in a larger narrative.

It’s that interesting area between what is fact and what is its truth.  We may determine fact but we can’t always know context and connection.  An item may not hold the same meaning in every circumstance.

But we can imagine and create a narrative that seems to make sense of fact and, in many cases, may come close to the reality.

Perhaps archaeology is as much an art form as it is a science.  Or an artist is sometimes a sort of archaeologist.

Hmm, let me think about that.

Anyway, I hope you’ll come out to the Principle Gallery on Friday evening.  The opening reception begins at 6:30 PM at the Alexandria gallery on historic King Street. I look forward to seeing you there.

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ONLY A FEW DAYS REMAIN TO GET IN ON YOUR CHANCE TO WIN THIS PAINTING!

Enraptured” is a 30″ by 40″ Painting valued at $5000

https://www.crowdrise.com/artists-engaging-nepal

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GC Myers- The Bridging

We want to be sure that it has that drama to it, that vividness to it, that focus, that cleanliness to it that is going to say something to you.

Thomas Keller

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The words above from chef Thomas Keller, owner of the fabled French Laundry restaurant  in Napa Valley, were in reference to food but I couldn’t help thinking that it was good advice for artists as well.

As an artist, you want your work to have a sense of drama that compels the viewer (or listener or reader or whoever it is that is taking in your work) to pause and ponder the work.  This sense of drama tells the viewer that there is something beyond the surface if they only take the time to fully appreciate it.

The vividness is in the uniqueness of it, how quickly it reaches out with its essence and reaches its intended audience.  I think of this as the work being a sort of beacon that is calling out.  Sometime, I will go in a gallery or museum and there are things on the wall that just call out to me from a great distance away.  It can be in the color or contrast or composition– something that just grabs my eye.

Focus is in the sense that all of the elements in the work come together in a harmony that pushes the central theme through.  I think there is a lot of work that is quite well done but never fully comes together in a single message that comes through to the audience.  I’m sure you’ve experienced work that you know is well done but just doesn’t seem to have much to say to you.  It kind of leaves you cold.  Focus, I believe, brings the work to life.

And there’s cleanliness.  I don’t think Keller was speaking about the cleanliness of a sanitized kitchen in his quote.  I think he was referring to the execution of the work– in his case food– so that all the elements of it sparkle and there is no distraction from what it is meant to be.  There are no unnecessary flavors or embellishments.  All excess has been pared away and there is a lightness and brightness to it.

Taken all together these qualities make for a delicious dish.  But it doesn’t happen with every effort.  There are days when finding one of these is difficult.  Then there are days when they just emerge, seemingly without effort.

The example I’m putting forward that I think fulfills Keller’s requirements — you might not agree– is the painting at the top, a 10″ by 30″ canvas called The Bridging that is part of my show at the Principle Gallery, opening in a couple of weeks on June 3.

It was the first piece I looked at after reading Keller’s words and it just seemed to have that beacon effect on me.  It was vivid and focused in it’s communication and there was a sense of drama to it.  Plus, there was a sharpness in its look and finish that just made it very appetizing.  ‘

If this were food, I would gladly eat it.

As I said, you might disagree.  Our tastes in food and art may differ.

And that is just as it should be…

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GC Myers- In the Inner PlaceShakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is simply trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.
Joseph Campbell (with Bill Moyers), The Power of Myth

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I think that the words above that Joseph Campbell spoke during his conversation with Bill Moyers for  The Power of Myth speak beautifully for both mythology and art, at least in my view.  I believe that we truly connect with myth and art when we see it as personal to ourselves, as being somehow symbolic of our own experience and being.  Our emotions and reactions.

Of course, many myths and much in art may not speak to us on this personal level.  I certainly don’t expect my work to speak to everyone no matter how much I may wish that it could.  It simply can’t.  My work is a reflection of my journey, my limited knowledge and my flawed self.  Yours is completely different.  But occasionally, there is a moment when you will see something of yourself in my representation of my inner world and that to me is magical.

This new painting, an 8″ by 24″ canvas, is what I see as being a very personal piece that might well reflect for others.  I call it In the Inner Place and it is included in my upcoming show, Part of the Pattern, at the Principle Gallery which opens June 3.  Without being specific, I see many things in this painting that I think speak strongly to how I want to see my world and my place in it.

An inner perception.

You might simply see it as a pleasant piece.

Or not.

Or you may see it as something reflective of your own inner world, something that speaks to who you are.  I can’t say.  We can’t control what anyone sees in a mirror.

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GC Myers-  Prismatic Moment smThe soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.

–Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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When I was in the early stages of this piece, I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of it.  It just seemed too much.  Too much color.  Too much vibrancy.

But as I tweaked here and there, deepening some colors and inserting lighter segments, it seemed to coalesce into something that needed that vibrancy in order to express whatever it held within.  As the final marks were made and it was finished, that initial uncertainty was wiped away.  That thing that I had saw earlier as its weakness had become its strength.

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at this piece over the last week or so and there’s something about it  that keeps drawing me back to it.  Maybe it is simply the colors  or the meditative stillness between the Red Tree and the Moon.  I don’t know for sure.

I call this piece, which is a 12″ by 24″ canvas, Prismatic Moment.  I have spoke before of us all being prismatic beings, filled with many colors, dimensions and sides but seldom showing but only a few of these things to any other person.  I see this painting as being one of those rare moments when one is fully expressed, when one is seen for exactly who and what they truly are.

I don’t know if we have many of those moments in our lives.  I think they may be rare but I could be wrong.  Do we ever fully see another person for all their colors and sides?  And do we ever truly show all our own colors and sides?  This piece makes me consider that thought…

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GC Myers- Peaceful Abode

-Isaiah 32:18

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This new painting, a 24″ by 18″ canvas, is titled Peaceful Abode.  and is part of my upcoming June show, Part of the Pattern, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

This piece has a bit of a different look even though it falls easily into my body of work. Maybe it’s the slight change in coloration or the slightly altered perspective from the rise of the hillside behind the lakefront buildings.

I don’t really know and, to tell the truth, I don’t want to think too much about it for fear of over-analyzing it.  I’ve enjoyed looking at this piece for the last week or so and find that it has a peaceful quality in it that is very soothing.

It takes me to a place far away from the rancor of politics, the horrors of violence we inflict on one another and the general chaos of our time.  It is the antithesis of nearly everything I see on the cable news networks.

The whole perspective of this piece seems to be inward looking, seeking that quiet and placid spot.  And looking at this piece, I believe for a brief moment that I have found it.

And that’s a good thing…

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GC Myers- Contact smThe morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears to hear it.

Henry David Thoreau

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This new painting is 24″ by 30″ on canvas and is titled Contact.  The words from Thoreau above speak pretty clearly to what I see in this piece,  that we often ignore the beauty and wonder of the natural world that exists all around us.  How many of us take the time to actually look at the sway of the trees in the breeze or the pattern of the stars in the night sky?  Sadly, we’re more likely now to see these things on our phones or laptops.

We’re too  busy, too distracted to have much interaction or contact with the wonder of the world that is often within our reach.

The buildings here seem closed in and eyeless, almost as though they are turned away from and oblivious to the world beyond their narrow line of sight.  They are symbolically in the shadow of the hillside, rising in a pyramid-ish form toward the open fields and woods that open to the radiating sky.  The sun has a warm and eye-like presence and the Red Tree seems to have reached a sort of tranquil communion with it.

Contact.

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