Hidden in the depths of the Murphy building through a labyrinth of doors, artist Brian Myers sits in his studio making himself at home among large, stretched canvases and enormous works scrolled across wide walls.
Myers is preparing for his latest exhibition, Liberation, which will open April 3rd at Artbox.
In his newest artwork, Myers continues to address relationships between objects and their environment connected to nature’s elements.
Myers has a history of working with elemental forms. Over the years he has woven the four natural elements into his visual genre from grounded objects to open, earthy landscapes. He has painted huge tsunami waves, windy breezes, and fiery landscapes.
His painted commentaries on world disasters have blended the elements together through subjects such as the events of September 11, 2001 and the Western wildfires.
Brian Myers working on a large-scale piece for his show at Artbox.
For First Friday, Myers' work will touch solely on open skyscapes and air as an elemental form. Myers states that his new paintings are different because of their lack of reference to any type of landscape or ground. Objects such as toy planes and plastic bags spin, spiral, and move through each painted space.
Myers ideas about the presence or absence of material objects and people accentuate the relationship and focus on the environment in his work. Without people present, the objects replace the human aspect and take on qualities of the human persona.
The material objects that substitute the human form, present an interesting relationship to the context in which they are painted. They sometimes appear at the mercy of the environment in which they exist.
Myers faces hanging his largest work for the exhibition, about 7 x 24 sq. ft.
Not completely without hope, Myers does believe in moments of grace as shown in his artwork when a plastic bag that has been lofted into the air remains airborne. Liberation is apparent. Myers’ painted objects convincingly show that there is a sense of movement and a sustained freedom through flight.
The scale of Myers’ paintings also exemplify his idea of liberation. Some of his oil paintings for the exhibition are so large that they will be hand-stretched onto frames at the gallery before the opening. As far as size goes, Myers says that he enjoys the new work and that making smaller pieces in the past has been daunting.
Opening reception for Brian Myers at Artbox, Friday, April 3rd from 5-12 p.m.
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