The Art of Larysa Myers

It was totally through happenstance that I met artist Larysa Myers. Longish story short, we were introduced by Julie Curtiss, an artist featured in the wonderful book "Get the Picture" by Bianca Bosker. Myers is now local, so I finagled an invite to visit her studio. What a treat to have the opportunity to see a wide range of Larysa's work and to talk with her about her artistic journey. 

Larysa didn't begin her working life as an artist. Far from it, in fact. Although art was her passion, Larysa opted for a more practical career path. She studied finance in college and worked for a time in investment banking. It was a way to pay the bills. When she took a new job and moved from Chicago to New York, her world shifted. Yes, she was still doing work that felt like drudgery. But art was everywhere, and it was like oxygen. She spent her free time exploring the City's many galleries and museums while continuing to create her own work. The time had come to follow her passion. She took a deep breath, jettisoned her corporate job and headed to art school.

Cast painting

The Grand Central Atelier provided Larysa with a deep foundation in classical art training. You have to be very serious about developing your skills to enroll in this type of program. Larysa shared that the students spent three hours a night for months doing cast and figure drawings. This ochre grissaille painting, for instance, took a month to create. (In case you're not familiar with the term "grissaile," it's a painting technique in which shades of a single color are used to create an image.) 

If you enlarge the picture, you should be able to see why it took so long to make this work. It was created using incredibly precise strokes -- mere touches, really -- with the smallest dabs of paint. The detail and the shading are spectacular. This type of classical training doesn't suit every aspiring artist. But the methodical process wasn't wholly new to Larysa. It actually bore some resemblance to the disciplined approach required in her former profession. While the subject matter in her work today is quite different from a classical cast, the same precision can be seen.

Larysa's training didn't end at the Atelier. She also studied textile design at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology). I hadn't realized that FIT offers a wide range of programs beyond fashion design, from animation to fine arts to spatial experience design. Very cool. It was an opportunity for Larysa both to hone her skills and to be in the midst of an energetic creative environment.  

Finally, the time came for Larysa to use her training to make her own art. Her work has an aura of mystery about it. The spirit of Henri Rousseau, one of Larysa's favorite artists, can often be felt. In fact, she has an image of Rousseau's "The Snake Charmer" tacked up in her studio for inspiration. Still, you can clearly see the impact of Larysa's classical studies in the detail of her work. And of course there are patterns that bring to mind her time spent in an environment in which textiles reign supreme. 

One of the things I like most about Larysa's work is that I experience it a little bit differently each time I look at it. Take, for instance, the first work in this post. Sometimes I connect with it as a representation of the way I want to approach today's political landscape. Can I please just stick my head in the sand until it's over? Having said that, I woke up this morning thinking that perhaps the woman is not hiding but seeking. Hmm. Then there are the other questions that come to mind. Why is the woman naked? When coupled with her position, she is doubly vulnerable to the dangers of the world in a way that makes me slightly anxious. But perhaps she is naked simply because she's wholly comfortable with her body and goes about her life being one with nature. Maybe she lives in a time before people wore clothing. Then there are the dots of light across the landscape. For me, they call to mind fireflies waiting to illuminate the way for our woman when she's done with whatever it is that she's doing. But they could of course have a deeper meaning, perhaps about the transient nature of life. (Okay, I admit it -- I looked up what fireflies can represent in art and am going with this interpretation.) But they might not be fireflies at all. As you can probably gather, I enjoy both the beauty in Larysa's work and thinking about what it might mean. It's much more satisfying than just looking at a pretty picture. 

A big thanks to Larysa for generously opening her studio to me. To explore more of Larysa's work, click here. And for a great interview with Larysa in maake magazine, click here. Happy viewing!