Principle Gallery | 6/3-7/3 | Alexandria, VA

Layered Forms

GC Myers explores the personal perception of form in new show at Principle Gallery

By Erin E. Rand

GC Myers’ first show at Principle Gallery, which took place more than 20 years ago, was titled Red Tree and, in the intervening years, he’s become known as the “red tree guy.”

“It’s not something that I wanted to be known as originally, but it’s evolved over time and become my trademark,” Myers says. “It’s actually something I embrace now.” Even though red trees show up in many of his paintings, the work is not about the tree. Instead, the tree is an expression of form, color, texture and line. It serves as a familiar starting point for viewers, inviting them to look deeper.Looking For the Curve, acrylic on panel, 24 x 12"His latest show at Principle Gallery, Depths of Light, opens June 3 and remains on view through July 3.

When Myers starts on a painting, he often doesn’t even have an idea in mind. He picks a surface—lately he’s been using aluminum panels—and puts down layers of gesso. “I’ll squirt it out, brush it on, run my fingers through it,” he says. “The whole idea is to create a three-dimensional, sculptural form, so that before I even put any paint down, there’s something of visual interest there.”

In Looking for the Curve, a baseball field shares the landscape with a curving road and river. Like the red tree, baseball fields are another one of Myers’ signatures. “They don’t need any translation,” he says. “People already have their own idea of what they mean, and there’s a certain emotional response to the geometry of it all.”Reaching Out, acrylic on pane, 36 x 18"

New World Symphony, acrylic on panel, 28 x 22"

Also on view at the Principle show is Hard Running, a maritime painting of a sailboat on a chaotic sea. “I’m not a sailor of any type, but I’ve always been fascinated by the form of the sails,” Myers says. The waves and sky are highly stylized, with long, thin brushstrokes creating a stormy atmosphere.

He says that his boat paintings are often purchased by sailors. “I’m always thrilled with that. Once, a lady in her mid-70s who had sailed her whole life told me that she liked my boat paintings because, even though they aren’t photorealistic, they capture the spirit of being on the water.”

New World Symphony features a large, dark red sun that still lights up the landscape below. “It’s an idiosyncrasy, but it works for me,” Myers says. “I use a lot of unnatural colors that you would never see in nature, but they just feel right in my mind.”Hard Running, acrylic on panel, 16 x 20"Though seeing something like a dark red sun in the sky would be jarring in real life, in Myers’ painting it represents a sea change. The world is evolving, for better or for worse. He says, “I have my own interpretations, but it’s always interesting to compare that to what other people see in the paintings.” —