The history of still life paintings is rich with symbolism and scientific precision, especially when it comes to capturing botanical subjects. While the Dutch Baroque masters, from whom Lance Myers draws inspiration, poured meaning into petals and insects, Myers questions whether a painting needs to have meaning at all.
Breathless And On Again, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
For Myers, still life painting allows him to “have a neutral foundation to explore stylistically and subvert the basic elements of design.” At his upcoming solo show, As We Unmagic the Self, at Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, Texas, Myers’ paintings are bombastic—vibrant chaos simultaneously explodes across the canvas and is contained in moments of stillness.
“The work for Lance Myers's upcoming show…explores youth and the melancholy state of its wane,” says Rachel Stephens, gallery director. “His blooms and figures are depicted in a suspended state of lush perfection, while creatures of decay crawl in the foreground. His work feels poignant and nostalgic, an embrace before the goodbye.”
Sure Frank, We Remember You, oil on wood, 24 x 18 in.
As both a painter and an animator, he constructs his scenes with care, sketching and planning compositions in drafts, physically and digitally. When he’s content with the layout of a piece, he paints in a modified Zorn palette that creates rich oranges, reds, greens, blues, and a crisp contrast between the black and white in his work.
Within the meticulous planning, there is a sense of rebellion hidden in Myers’ work. In his paintings, like Pincushion Protea, he depicts insects circling and interacting with the flowers or subjects, but upon closer inspection, those insects don’t exist in real life.
This Thunder About You, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
“I recently was looking through a box of childhood drawings and saw that it’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” says Myers. “I’ll take a head or abdomen of one insect and combine it with another to create the shape I think belongs in the space.
“For those who study art history and Dutch still life, they’ll know that insects are often symbols of death and decay and Memento Mori…but again in my work I struggle with and question if these things need or should have meaning.”
A Study in Luminous Tremors, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
Beyond the technical side of painting, the artist is looking to capture a mood more than anything else. “I want my work to be cryptic enough to draw people in,” he says. “There’s not an outright literal meaning to any of it, and I want [viewers] to walk away with a certain mood. There’s a sort of dichotomy of the meditative melancholy mood of the subject with the playful, energetic color scheme.”
She Goes Right Through You, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 in.
The melancholy moods Myers describes are mainly embodied in the people in his work. “The subjects I’m painting are often in these quiet moments of reflection or contemplation. They look a little sad, and there’s a stillness to them that I hope invites the viewer in to consider and contemplate as well.”
In another twist and deviation from contention, Myers creates titles for his paintings that he describes as “overwrought” and “bombastic,” which seems to be an overarching theme of his work. Titles like The Heliotrope Signal Misfire and Sure Frank, We Remember You are another way to diffuse the serious air that comes with the subject matter, but also leave viewers wondering what it all means.
The Heliotrope Signal Misfire, oil on canvas, 34 x 24 in.
Viewers and collectors can take in the show As We Unmagic the Self, with its contrasts and challenge of convention, and decide for themselves if the paintings have meanings. The show opens August 1 with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. and runs through September 6. —
Wally Workman Gallery 1202 W. 6th Street Austin, TX 78703 • (512) 472-7428 www.wallyworkmangallery.com
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