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Posts Tagged ‘West End Gallery’

Nightglow

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , on August 10, 2010| 2 Comments »

 People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.

                      –Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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Nightglow-- GC Myers 2010

I was having trouble describing what I saw in this painting, Nightglow, so I went looking for other people’s word to help me.  I came across this quote from Kubler-Ross, the famed psychiatrist who pioneered the study of death and dying and introduced the Five Stages of Grief to us.

It’s a simple quote and a simple premise- that we are measured not by how we behave when things are at their best but by how we rise to face obstacles and problems.  How we gather light in the darkness and how we reflect it and give off our own light.

One always hopes that they are the one who gives off the light, that they possess the ability to shine brightest at the darkest moments.  Perhaps it’s just a romantic notion of a heroic quality that evades most of us.  But we can, and should, aspire to such a quality.  It is far too easy to respond to darkness with our own darkness.  We see this every day, in so many situations, and continue to stumble through the murk.

Light will show us the way through darkness every time.

 

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Nightglow is part of the New Days show at the West End Gallery in Corning. 

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After the Talk

Posted in Technique/History, tagged on August 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

I had my Gallery Talk at the West End Gallery yesterday and it went well.  Very nice turnout with many new faces and lots of questions to answer which made the time go by quickly.  Which is a good thing because, at the end, I am sick to death of talking about myself and my work.  But it’s all part of the job of being an artist.

I’ve often said that the hardest part of this career is the constant self-promotion that one must maintain if one wants to succeed in the business of art (or just about any other business, for that matter), which goes against the very nature of many artists who are often either somewhat introverted or desirous of staying out of the spotlight so that they can simply observe.  I don’t know where I fall in these groups.

It would be lovely to only stay in the studio to paint and not have to talk (or write) about myself or my work.  To not have to seek out new outlets for my work, new avenues to reach a wider audience for my paintings.  To simply create.

But I’ve always seen my work as a vehicle for communicating something inside that I can’t explain to people I don’t know.  I don’t make it for myself.  If I didn’t think it would move others, I probably wouldn’t do it at all.  I have the feeling and imagery inside already.  No, for me to want to create it, it needs to be seen.  And that means I must do whatever I can to inform people of it.

It’s not something that many artists are well suited for and something that most art programs don’t teach.  I can only imagine how much truly great art has been lost through the ages due to an inability or unwillingness by the artist to speak up about their work.

But, as I said, it’s part of the bargain that comes with the job.  So while I would rather be alone in my studio, I talk…

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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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Next Steps

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on July 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

Left of Center- GC Myers 2010

This is a piece from the show, New Days, at the West End Gallery.  Its one of the pieces that are being called gray paintings, a series of pieces I have been recently doing in shades of black, white and gray with small touches of color.  As I’m starting to prepare for my show in October at the Kada Gallery in Erie, I’ve began to ponder if and how I will incorporate this series into that show. 

As with anyhting new that clicks with me, I want to run it out to see if I can expand it beyond what it starts as.  For instance, I am really excited about the prospect of using this gray format in a much larger work comprised of a grid of many small individual cells each containing a simple landscape with perhaps one cell having a red tree.  It would have a great graphic quality and the size and austerity would make the small slash of red pop out of the gray. 

 I’m thinking something like a 30″ by 30″ image.  It would work on canvas or paper although I lean toward paper because with the graphic feel of the gray work I like having a mat forming a field of white around the image, something that makes the image stand out even more.  It would be have either 25 or 30 individual cells, 5 or 6 cells across and 5 or 6 down.  I’ve done a few, many years ago, that had 45 and 49 cells.  I haven’t done anything like that in the past several years.

World Shifts-- GC Myers 2003

The other consideration is whether the cells will be very uniform with straight lines, each very much like the next.  Or will it be more organic, with each cell very individual in shape and size.  Here on the right is an example from several years back that has that naturally grown look, with barely anything in it that resembles a straight line.  I like the look and feel of this but looking at it now, I think it is better suited to color. 

 But one never knows.  Maybe I will try a small organic piece in the gray to get a better feel.  Sometimes that first impression I form in my head is off a bit and when further examined, something that I didn’t foresee reveals itself.  Sometimes for the better.  Sometimes not.

This is as close to planning ahead as I often get with my work.  I have a somewhat well-formed idea of what I want to see on the canvas or paper, know how I plan on painting it, know the subject matter– pretty know everything I need to jump in.  The interesting thing is that something invariably happens that changes one of these factors and the piece transforms into something quite different that the one I have in my head now.  Usually, it changes for the better, provided I let these changes emerge in an organic fashion, not forced.  Occasionally the transformation doesn’t work and that is usually the result of a flaw in how I was seeing the painting in my head in the first place or if I try to resist obvious changes that are dictated by shifitng factors.

Hey, the worst thing I can do is think too much about this.  Said too much already. Just give it a direction and let it go.  That said, gotta run…

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Destination

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , , on July 27, 2010| 2 Comments »

Destination- GC Myers 2010

I am at the point in my year where I am past my two summer shows and several months out from my next, a show I do every other year at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.  This is a time when I get to catch up on some small things like maintenance around my home and studio, working on a few commissions that have been patiently waiting and starting to work on new ideas that have cropped up over the past few months. 

 It’s a good time for me, for the most part, with no immediate deadlines hovering  overhead.  A time to breath a bit and reflect on the direction of my work and where I want it to head.   Try to bring into form an ideal location further along the continuum where the work shows more growth and depth.  A place where I am totally satisfied in all ways by the work.

Destination.

Which is, by the way, the title of the painting at the top.  This piece, a 12″ by 36″ canvas which is part of my New Days show at the West End Gallery, really represents the concept I’m describing.  Looking ahead and finding a place, a situation,  that meets all your needs and desires, whether in one’s life or lifework.  That sense of the realized ideal really jumped from this piece for me.  There is a great and obvious clarity in this painting, a sense of a gained sense of understanding.  Like looking ahead to a distant future and seeing yourself as being both the same as now but somehow different.  Changed somehow by a new knowledge that you have somehow gathered in the interim between now and then.

I am what I am but I am not what I will be.

It’s a funny feeling when I come across a piece where a thought like that jumps at me, fully formed and encapsulated.  It becomes all I see in the piece.  I can recognize other aspects of it that others see in it.  But for me, that one thought overshadows them.  It makes it a very powerful personal piece for me.

Now, I must get back to finding a way there….

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Cavatina

Posted in Video, tagged , , on July 23, 2010| 2 Comments »

The show opened at the West End Gallery last night and went pretty well.  Nice crowd. 

Some surprises, like writer Alicja Mann and her husband, David, showing up unexpectedly.  The opening coincided with their annual trip between their home in Tucson, Arizona and their summer place in Cape Cod so they drove quite a bit out of their way to surprise me.  Alicja, as I wrote  about in this blog, had used one of my paintings for the cover of her book of essays, Looking At The World Twice.  She told me the book had recently won a prestigious award, the Glyph,  for best cover design from the Arizona Book Publishing Association.  She was extremely thrilled and proud to have such an honor bestowed and allowed me to share a bit of her  excitement. 

I had never met Alicja personally nor was I expecting her appearance at the gallery so I was very surprised when she introduced herself.  It was a real pleasure meeting her and David and we had a wonderful conversation during and after the show.  Many thanks to both of them and may their trip up to the Cape be safe.

Anyway, I’m taking a little time this morning to mull over the events last night so I’m just going to have a bit of music.  How about Cavatina from guitarist John Williams?  Some of you may remember it as the de facto theme of the movie, The Deer Hunter.  Just a lovely piece of music…

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Show Night

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , on July 22, 2010| 1 Comment »

 

Tonight is the opening at the West End Gallery for my show, New Days.  I’ve talked about my views on openings over the time I’ve been writing this blog, about the certain level of tension that accompanies such things.  A mix of apprehension and nausea-fueled fear that the work won’t live up to the expectations of the gallery or myself.  It’s an odd combination of both reaching a goal and wishing you had not at the same time.

Divining Tree- GC Myers 2010

 I recognize that I’ve been incredibly fortunate that the galleries that represent my work have wanted to showcase it over the years.  I think they know how seriously I take my work and how much the appreciation I have for their efforts on behalf of my work makes me want to bring in the best possible show every time so that I don’t let them down.  I feel I have a real responsibility to the galleries and to the people who come out to the exhibits to give the fullest possible effort in executing my work.  I think that this leads to a consistency in the work that viewers can recognize.

Light Epistles-- GC Myers 2010

But over the years and the many shows, it has become somewhat easier.   There’s still a level of fear and tension but it’s tempered with the knowledge acquired through experience that everything generally will work out in the long run.  So this morning when I woke up, I was not filled with a huge knot in my gut.  I knew I had put in the effort, had not taken anything for granted.  I think this is a really striking group of work.   It hangs together well, by which I mean the pieces play off and complement one another well.  There is a certain continuity that runs through the group that binds it together.
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 So, this morning I feel pretty good.  Oh, sure , there’s apprehension.   Hell, there’s apprehension on mornings when I don’t have a show that night. So, tonight I will go out and talk with folks about the paintings, answer questions and sleep well afterwards, knowing I gave it my best. 
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 Hope to see you there if you’re in the Corning area.

GC Myers- New Clarity 2010

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Roots Show Through

Posted in Biographical, Influences, Neat Stuff, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , on July 20, 2010| 2 Comments »

This is a new painting that is also part of the New Days exhibit at the West End Gallery.  Titled Roots Show Through, it’s one of those paintings that, for me, brings to mind an immediate thought.  When I look at this piece I am instantly reminded that we are the products of our past and that our ancestry deeply dictates many of our behaviors.  We may believe that our actions are ours alone and that our forebearers are remote from us in all ways but they show themselves in ways we may never recognize.

I was watching the end of the PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates (of the infamous arrest and subsequent Beer Summit at the White House) which traces the genealogical background of a number of well known folks, showing how they came to be and how they are interrelated to many others.  I was captivated by how they were able to break down the genetic composition of their subjects, showing how richly we are endowed those things that make us unique by prior generations.  Each one of our direct anscestors made it possible for us to be here in the form, for better or worse, that we are at present.  Take away any of them and we become much different people, if we exist at all.

The roots show through.

Now there are roots that we would like to keep deeply buried.  I know from doing genealogy that there is a tendency to want to see our ancestors in the best possible light, to give them the most positive attributes.  You imagine them to be wise and good and often you can find some evidence that some of your ancestors were .  But sometimes you find things that are less flattering, things you hope haven’t found their way to you through the genetic network.  In doing my own genealogy ( and my guess is that it is similar to a great many people out there) I have found a number of good and learned people who had places of respect in their communities.  But for every one of these folks I found even more who were less accomplished. 

 Going through census records, I find many ancestors in the recent past  who could not read nor write.  Some are listed on these same records in prisons and county poor houses and sanitariums.  Some are found in other records listing their misdeeds.  I have thieves and swindlers in my line.  My favorite was a beaver thief from the late 1600’s up the Hudson Valley.  I have some ancestors who were killed in various battles and massacres and as many who took part in other massacres, including one who was darkly remembered for the lifelong  revenge he took against the Indian tribes who had killed his father.  I have murderers including a great-great grandfather from several generations back who was hung in the town square in Easton, PA  for the murder of his wife. 

You hope some of those roots found a dead-end generations ago.  But they probably found their way through in some form and you ultimately deal with the background that brought you here in ways you hope allow you to live and prosper, with some semblance of wisdom and good.  You hope that the positive traits handed down to you by your ancestors far outweigh the negative ones.

Oddly enough, all of this and more comes to mind when I glimpse this piece.  It has almost become an icon for this particular thought.  How others see it, I cannot guess…

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Eastern Influence

Posted in Influences, Painting, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on July 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Sometimes a title for a piece is so undeniable that it makes all other attempts at naming it seem utterly futile.  When I completed this 8″ by 16″ painting on paper, I tried to find something in it that reminded me of  something other than  the feeling of  Eastern influence that seemed to drip from the surface.  The bonsai-like tree and the mound from which it sprouts.  The rising sun.  Even the way the sky is segmented and shaded seemed to bring forth thought of a flag from the East.  It all conspired to give the painting a decidedly Eastern Zen flavor.

I was trying to get away from having the viewer see the piece as only a product of influence, as though that might somehow lessen the work.  But isn’t every painting a product of influence somehow?  I can often see the onfluence of others in my work.  A bit of color here borrowed from something I’ve seen in another artist’s work.  I remember doing a piece when I was first showing and I had used a green in the work that had a wonderful rich earthiness to it.  This little bit of my painting so reminded me of the greens that Albrecht Durer had used in some of his lovely paintings of small wildlife such as rabbits and squirrels.  One day, I was in the gallery and the piece was hanging when another artist who also showed his work there saw it.

“That’s Durer’s green!” he exclaimed. 

I was thrilled that he caught it, that he saw the same qualities in it that I saw in Durer’s use of the color even though there was no other similarity in the work.  It provided a real insight into how influence works in how we create and view work.

So, why fight it when an influence shows through even more prominently?  It was influenced by the East as am I.  Even as I sit here now, my desk looks out an east-facing window as I watch the sun’s rays filter through the thick foliage of the trees as it rises from the east.  Every morning that I look into the eastern sky I am influenced by it.  You can’t deny your influences or habits, the things that shape your views.  So to call this piece anything other than Eastern Influence would be like trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

This painting is part of the New Days exhibit of my work at the West End Gallery in Corning, NY  that open this Thursday, July 22.

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Night of the Blue Wish

Posted in Recent Paintings, tagged , on July 15, 2010| 8 Comments »

This is Night of the Blue Wish.  It’s a small painting, only a 4″ by 14″ image on paper, but it has a much bigger feeling.  It’s part of my show, New Days, that opens a week from today, Thursday, Jully 22 at the West End Gallery in Corning.

It’s a very blue piece.  Blue, as I’ve talked about before here, is like an addictive drug for me.  I love using it in the way it is used here, to create a dense color of night, but working with it has a very intoxicating effect.  It makes me want to use this color, this blue, all the time, makes me want to make it the center of my color universe. But I know I must resist and only use it sparingly lest it overwhelm my whole way of expressing myself. So, periodically I cautiously let it emerge and show itself, to satisfy my addiction. 

This piece has a feeling of magical thinking for me, like a fairy tale.  As though the tree, under the cover of this special night of color, comes alive, as we humans slumber in our little boxes, to engage in a dialogue of sorts with the moon.  As though it were beseeching the moon to stay a little longer, to keep it company and enjoy a bit more conversation.  As though the moon’s light gave the tree an ability to speak, to express itself in a way outside its normally slow and stoic way.

Well, that’s how I see it…

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