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Posts Tagged ‘Quote’

Distant Memory/ Redux

Posted in Personal Mythology, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on July 28, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Release the Past smEvery man’s memory is his private literature.
—Aldous Huxley
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The painting shown above, Release the Past, is a 20″ by 24″ canvas that is part of my current show at the West End Gallery.  I was recently thinking about it, trying to discern exactly what it was that I was seeing in this piece, when I pulled up an earlier blogpost that featured the Huxley quote above.  It very much was in line with how I aligned this painting, with the figure in the mid-ground seemingly lost in thoughts of the past,  with my own experience.

Here’s what I wrote:

I like this quote from Huxley.  I have often felt that all of our personal lives fit into some sort of mythic template on which all literature is based and that we often fail to see the connections between the tales of our own lives and those stories which have come down through history in the form of myth and legend.  We all live lives that are often filled with tragedy , comedy and drama.  Heroic, even.  But we seldom perceive them as such, instead thinking of our personal memories as being merely mundane. 
 
And that’s probably as it should be.  Life is spent, for the most part, moving forward in small, day-to-day steps with little time left to see the larger pattern of our lives.  Who has the time to reflect backwards, to see how our lives fit into the templates of eternity?  Very few of us, to be sure.  But what if we could take that time to look back fully and see the patterns set in history and to see that our lives own patterns mesh into that pattern, that we are all indeed connected to and part of the same fabric?
 
Would it make a bit of difference?  Would it make us appreciate the fragility and rareness of  each individual’s place in this world. make us understand that our own history is the history of all and that our memory binds us to the fabric of history?
 
I don’t know.  But it’s something to think about.

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Quote of the Week: Hockney

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on July 23, 2015| 2 Comments »

David Hockney- Mulholland Drive 1980

David Hockney- Mulholland Drive 1980

It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather than what he says about his work.

 –David Hockney
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     When I first read this quote from artist David Hockney, a painter whose work I admire and find very interesting, I wanted to be offended.  After all, I am an artist who has said plenty about his work through the years– this blog and gallery talks being evidence of that– and have tried to be always transparent and forthcoming when talking about my work.  But even so, I nodded in agreement when I read his words.
     Part of my own desire to be honest and open about my work came from the frustration I felt in reading other artist’s writings that were filled with ArtSpeak, that way of seeming to say something important and meaningful without really saying anything at all.  The words danced around all form of meaning and never fully jibed with the images that accompanied the words, leaving me with a single word resonating in my mind.
     Bullshit.
     And I know bullshit.  I was a longtime bullshit artist.   I sold swimming pools and automobiles– yes, I was even a used car salesman!- to the public for quite some time.  I knew that you could sell by focusing on the strengths of the product and by dancing around questions about its drawbacks.  Fill any voids with words that sounded like they were filled with meaning but really made no commitment to anything.
     For me, there came a time when I was determined to not deal anymore in that manner of speaking and when I finally came to painting, I knew I didn’t want my work to fall into that pool of bullshit.  I wanted to tightly control how I represented my work and to be completely open about it.  It’s whole purpose for me was my own honest expression and I wanted people to be able to witness that without a filter of crap between them and the work.
     For the most part, I feel that I have been able to maintain that through these last several years.  Oh, occasionally I feel myself straying off the path but I simply remind myself that the product I am representing is the core of my self and once I cross that line I would be betraying everything art has provided for me.
    But these are just words and maybe you should take them with Hockney’s advice in mind.  If you want to judge for yourself, come to the Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery next Saturday, August 1, which begins at 1 PM.  Ask me anything and I promise you a straight answer.

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In the Land of Many Colors

Posted in Motivation, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on July 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- In the Land of Many Colors sm

GC Myers- In the Land of Many Colors

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.

Georgia O’Keeffe

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My show, Home+Land, opens tonight  at the West End Gallery with an opening reception that runs from 5-7:30 PM.  The West End was the first place to give me an opportunity to display my work, over twenty years ago, and has served as a home base for my painting in the years since.  I’ve written here in the past how different my life might be without that first opportunity.

As a result, I attach special significance to my shows here.  Maybe that played a part in my choice of Home+Land as the title for this year’s show.

I’m not sure.

But I do know that, no matter how widely traveled my work is beyond this area, it personally means a lot for me to have my paintings strike a chord with and be appreciated by my friends and neighbors locally– people who often know me in other ways than my being an artist.

And I hope that happens with this particular show.  It is a show that I feel explores the idea of home and place in many colors, textures and forms.  It is a show that I feel represents my work fully to this point in time and speaks for me in ways that words never could, much in the way Georgia O’Keeffe said her work did in the quote at the top.

It would be easy to sit here and write umpteen words about the two pieces from the show shown here, In the Land of Many Colors at the top and Lake Tranquil below, but they effortlessly say more than I could ever say with all my struggling words.  As they should.

So, if you’re in the Corning area tonight, stop in at the West End Gallery for a bit.  Have a glass of wine, stroll around the gallery and see the show.  I’ll be there to answer any questions you might have and would love to hear your comments.

GC Myers- Lake Tranquil

GC Myers- Lake Tranquil

 

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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

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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.

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Melding to the Moment

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on July 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Melding to the Moment smBe happy for this moment. This moment is your life.

–Omar Khayyam

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This is another painting from the Home+Land show that opens this coming Friday, July 17, at the West End Gallery.  Titled Melding to the Moment, it is a 24″ by 36″ canvas that, for me, pretty much holds the same message as the words above from Omar Khayyam. I see it as about being totally in the moment, in a sort of harmony with all things.

Using This moment is your life… as a rule, it is in finding those moments of contentment and happiness that can define your view of your life.  To be able to stop and block out regrets of the past or worries for the future allows one to enjoy the pleasures of the present, that slice of life immediately before you– that small wonder that might be lost when we are immersed in thoughts of what we have done or what we will do.

The song of a bird.  The smell of the grass.  The way the light comes from behind a cloud or the feel of  a warm breeze on your skin.  All small things, small moments.  But all moments that create the textures of life if we allow ourselves to simply pause and meld to the moment.

At least that’s how I see this piece.  It was one that was a long time coming, growing in small fits and starts.  I would work on it for a while and would see it going in a direction that didn’t quite suit me in that moment so I would put it aside.  Several weeks, perhaps even a couple of months, passed and I would pull it back out and do a bit more and where I thought it was headed was not at all where it was going.

So I waited a bit longer. Finally, a few weeks back I went back and it transformed into the painting that you now see.  It is nothing like I originally envisioned it in its earliest stages.  It went beyond where I thought it would be and that is always a pleasant surprise.

A pleasant surprise, a pleasant moment…

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A “Home+Land” Preview

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , , on July 13, 2015| 1 Comment »

"Heightened Awareness"- GC Myers

“Heightened Awareness”- GC Myers

One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.

—Hermann Hesse

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Well, my show, Home+Land, is now hanging at the West End Gallery ahead of this Friday evening’s opening reception.  Feedback has been very strong thus far which alleviates some of the jitters that normally accompany the run-up to any of my shows, something I’ve written about here a number of times in the past.

This period between delivering the show and the opening is always one of uncertainty.  Even though I may feel confident and truly satisfied in the work, in this time period a lingering doubt always seems to rise up that perhaps my perception of the work will not jibe with that of the general public.  After many years and many of these shows, I know this an irrational fear, that how others see the work is beyond my control and so long as I feel that the work speaks honestly and confidently for me there is nothing to worry about.

And that is something that I definitely feel the work does in this show.  I feel completely invested in this show with a certainty that this group is an authentic representation and extension of my work and my self.  For better or worse, it just feels honest.

This was something I found to be true when I was putting together the short video preview below as I wanted to keep it shorter and didn’t want to include everything.  It was difficult deciding which pieces to include and which to leave out– each would add something and none which be out of place.

But in the end I felt pretty good about the group I chose and hope you’ll take a moment to decide for yourself.

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Believer

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on July 10, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Believer smWe have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

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This new painting, a 24″ by 30″ canvas that is part of my Home+Land show at the West End Gallery, is a piece that really has strong appeal for me personally.  Maybe it’s the warmth in its colors and the way its forms and textures flow together.  Or maybe it just has something to say to me.

I call this piece Believer and, for me, I saw differing forms of belief throughout the piece, as seen in the obvious reference to religious belief as represented in church and steeple.

The farm and silo I saw as a symbol of a belief in the earth and one’s own self-sufficiency, a belief centered on common sense and knowledge.  I saw the Red Tree as the believer, as FDR said in 1940, that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.  It is a symbol here of the dreamer, the explorer.  The believer of a better future.

The radiating sun represents a constant for all of these beliefs.  We all believe that the sun will come up each day.  It has always done so and I believe that it will probably continue that way for the foreseeable future.

I guess the point is that, unless we have abandoned all hope in ourselves and this world, we all have a belief system of some sort, whether it is in our own god (or gods) or in science and knowledge or in a better world beyond the horizon.

As for myself, I believe I’ll have another cup of coffee…

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Quote of the Week: Pasternak on Art

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on July 8, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers-Foundling smArt is interested in life at the moment when the ray of power is passing through it.

—Boris Pasternak

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I think Pasternak (author of Doctor Zhivago) is really spot on with with this terse definition of art.  Art at its core is, for me, an attempt to affirm our existence and the existence of that life force within us.

I really like that term that Pasternak uses here– ray of power.  That description of the force that drives all living things jibes well with that animating force that I try to find in my own work, that indeterminate quality that makes a static thing seem to take on a life of its own.

How and if it comes through in the work is the interesting thing for me.  Sometimes, despite my extreme efforts, I cannot find that life force.  Maybe I should say because of my extreme efforts instead of despite.  Sometimes it seems as though trying to consciously find that thing prevents it from being found. It often finally appears when I don’t focus on that aspect and lose myself in the process of actually painting– the colors, lines and forms before me.

It’s as though you don’t find it.  It finds you.

I chose the painting at the top, Foundling, to illustrate this post before I wrote that last line but it fits so well with the idea of that ray of power as well as the idea of it finding you.  This painting, a 24″ by 36″ canvas, is, of course, from my upcoming show, Home+Land, opening July 17 at the West End Gallery.

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Quote of the Week/ Pollock

Posted in Influences, Quote, tagged , , , , , , , on July 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jackson Pollock -Convergence 1952Painting is a state of being…Painting is self discovery.  Every good painter paints what he is.

–Jackson Pollock

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In yesterday’s The Guardian, here was a review of a current exhibit at the Tate Liverpool of Jackson Pollock paintings.  Writer Jonathan Jones describes Pollock’s work around 1950, in the period when he was briefly liberated from his chronic alcoholism,  as being the pinnacle of his career. As he put it : Pollock was painting at this moment like his contemporary Charlie Parker played sax, in curling arabesques of liberating improvisation that magically end up making beautiful sense.

GC Myers-Under TextureThat sentence really lit me up, as did the words of Pollock at the top of the page.   In Pollock’s work I see that beautiful sense of which Jones writes. I see order and rhythm, a logic forming from the seemingly incomprehensible. The textures that make up the surfaces of my own paintings are often formed with Pollock’s paintings in mind, curling arabesques in many layers.  In fact, one of the themes of my work is that same sense of finding order from chaos.

 To some observers, however, Pollock’s work represented the very chaos that plagued the world then and now.  But true to his words, Pollock’s work was indeed a reflection of what he was– a man seeking grace and sense in a chaotic world.

Painting is, as Pollock says, self discovery and indeed every painter ultimately paints what they are.  I know that in the work of painters I personally know I clearly see characteristics of their personality, sometimes of their totality.

I believe that my work also reveals me in this way.  It shows everything– strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears.  You might think that a painter would be clever enough to show only those positive attributes of his character, like the answers people give when asked to describe their own personality.  There are some that try but it comes off as contrivance. Real painting, real art, is in total revelation, showing the chaos and complexity of our true self and attempting to find order and beauty within it.

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Quote of the Week/ Michaelangelo

Posted in Opinion, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , on June 25, 2015| 2 Comments »

The_Torment_of_Saint_Anthony_(Michelangelo)A man paints with his brains and not his hands.

-Michaelangelo Buonarroti

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I am a little intimidated in quoting the words of a man who is believed to have painted the piece shown above, The Torment of Saint Anthony, at the tender age of 12 or 13.  Pretty amazing.  It’s obvious from this and almost everything of his that came after that Michaelangelo had both brains and hands–craftsmanship of the highest degree and thought and feeling that brought his work to life.

But his words ring true for any painter.  Painting should not be mere craft, not formulaic process nor exact replication of the reality before them.  No, it is beyond  that.  It is how the artist imbues the work with their own thought and emotion, their own spirit, their own essence– an investment of the self— that elevates the work above craft.

Doing that is the trick.  At first glance, it seems both a tall task and a simple one.  But it comes down to simply feeling emotion in what you are doing and being willing to openly display it without reserve.

Now, maybe I am misinterpreting Michaelangelo’s words to fit my own subjective view of painting.  Perhaps in these ten words he was speaking about taking a more scientific or mathematical approach to painting and composition. That I don’t know.  But when I read it, it made sense to me because the differentiating quality I see in painting, from self-taught outsiders to the highest level of traditional representational painters, is how much of themselves a painter is willing to invest in their creations.

It is the thought process of the artist that makes the painting, not the mechanical process.

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