Bryn
Gerard

Hello

I am an artist who lives and works in Liverpool. To write with clarity about oneself has to be one of the most difficult tasks there is. I imagine it is why few artists would want to do so. It is usually shameless exhibitionism or some other form of self indulgence but there are occasions when it contributes to the work. I hope you find truth in my work, not that Truth can ever be pinned down :) ,but for me to give meaning to my work I and it, must be sincere.
My work is about education and transformation through beauty.

I was born in 1957 in Liverpool, England. I can't say I have had a conventional "career path" as an artist although I don't know any that have. You normally get to this point in an artists biography and the artist is reassuring you of his viability as an artist by citing the different education establishments that they have attended and the august organisations that they have worked with. This is normal way of presenting yourself to the world, we put our Sunday best on so that people will think well of us and, more importantly, take us seriously. I don't intend to try and convince you that my work has value, it either does or it doesn't. It must stand on its own two feet. I am not offended if people find nothing in what I create.

My reason for publicly displaying my work has nothing to do with me wanting anything from anyone. The thought of being "well known" is a bit nightmarish to myself, but sharing to the work with others is the whole point of producing it and so I suffer the indignity of notoriety for its sake, what a martyr I am ;)

I am a naturally shy and private person, although not reclusive. I publish my work because I have something that I want to express, something that I think could enrich the lives of others. Whether that is so, others will have to decide :-)

Education & Work

I have taken the path of experience and "doing" rather than a traditional academic route. My mother had attended a school called Redhill run by a rather accomplished educationalist called Otto Shaw. She held the same radical views on education and inevitably passed them on to her children. Unfortunately, the world has few education systems that function along these radical lines and inevitably I came into conflict with the rigidity of the traditional English education system of the day.

A very small percentage of people were granted access to "higher" education in those days and even if you where in with a shout, if your face didn't fit you wouldn't be going anywhere. There was also the simple logistics of the matter. A system designed for a tiny percentage of people to be educated and that percentage equalled the same percentage of wealthy and middle class families in the society. The wealthy would ensure that their children would be at the front of the queue regardless of ability and the crumbs of education could be fought over by the rest. Britain was and still is a nation that vilely expresses injustice and blames the victims for it.

Teachers in many schools in poor neighbourhoods “manage the expectations” of the children to make sure they will amount to nothing and not feel too bad about it. I am all for realism but if I had a penny for each time each a teacher or priest told me I would never amount to anything..... The sad thing is that these teachers really believe that they are doing good. That these children will have little opportunity is not in dispute but it won't be because they don't have ability and unrealised potential it will be because of the inequity in the society we live in which is perpetuated by the shower who should not assume the title of “human” just yet.

I am fortunate to have not lived in Britain for a number of extended periods. When you return to it you see how false and ridiculous the class system is. There are different classes of people but it is based upon the persons outer expression of human values that include justice and decency. These are not qualities that can be seen in people who believe that they are separate from and superior to others and that it is all about breeding when it is all about money.

They have become so good at lying they now believe their own lies. These people are so full of fear and insecurity, their making themselves privileged and secure makes everyone else insecure and wastes the potential of the race. Those who think in such vile ways are enemies of life itself.

This is a familiar story told often from every age and culture, it is part of the sad history of mankind. But you shouldn't let it get to you, in every human is a beautiful light that must be made to shine, the beauty of that light will cause these vile ones to scuttle into the darkness where they belong. Real and genuine education will release that light.

Despite being thrown upon the heap of factory fodder I was not down hearted, I knew that there were no jobs in factories left so I wouldn't be doing that! I was infused with a powerful sense of my own self, its abilities and potential. This gave me an indomitable will. With a deep interest in all around me and a passion for wood, drawing and travel. I knew that I would overcome the injustice.

I had the good fortune to work with Brain Injured children for almost two years from the age of 16. All of these children where on a radical program of treatment designed by Dr. Glen Doman and Educational Psychologist Carl Delacato. They worked through the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential. Their theory was that these "injured" children could be made well by stimulating the Brain in order to make new pathways for the natural development to proceed. It was based upon the work of Temple Fay (a neurophysiologist). Needless to say it was radical, and remains a controversial therapy today.

In the two years I worked in it I saw enough positive progress in the children to convince me of its efficacy and the validity of the theory. Make no mistake, the effort and commitment of the families is what brings it about. It requires massive sacrifice on their part and it is all about hard work., Frequency, Intensity and Duration.

I applied this theory to myself and came to the conclusion that there was nothing that I could not know but that I couldn't know everything. It could only be a question of the right stimulation and the brain would do the rest. This is a rather simplistic view of learning but the more I have applied it throughout my life the more I am convinced the complex and erudite are not always the best answer. There is more to it and I will cover these areas in my Blog.

Armed with this self belief I set out in life to prove the theory and my selfish motivation was to have an interesting and varied experience of life.

Tinker, Taylor Soldier Spy, Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief. I have been almost all of those things, which ones I shall leave you to figure out ;-) Consequently I have had a varied existence, and I often think of the Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”.

I served in the Royal Green Jackets of the British Army during the 1970's in Berlin and Northern Ireland and a host of other places too numerous to mention. Upon completion of my military service I was in the great position of being in possession of £3000+ which was a substantial amount in 1978. I had spent the last 10 months in Northern Ireland and there are not a lot of things to spend your money on. I had also been in receipt of an extra 50p per day for being on active service and risking my life for my nation. I felt a bit mercenary ;-)

In order to heal my self from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder I had acquired in service to my nation, I moved my self to the Mexican border south of San Diego. I learnt about all things Mexican and have been a life long fan of what they bring to the world.

I got a job at an Investment company which dealt in secondary money market instruments (GNMA, FNMA etc.), and although I didn't know shit from squashed fruit or wild honey, the president of the company took a shine to me and gave me a crash course in economics, markets etc. I had to read the Wall Street Journal each day, cover to cover, anything I didn't understand I could ask my boss about after work and he would explain it to me or point me to some book or other. I rapidly became familiar with how money worked and it was a great education but remarkably dull. Even the vast amounts of money that could be made could not make up for all the grasping and the emptiness of it all.

I then worked at a financial planning practice, this company provided estate and tax planning for the wealthy. A thorough analysis was performed including capital needs, net worth, cash flow etc. This was a bit more interesting but what really made the job was that I got to work with my first computer.

I was fortunate to live in California at the birth of Personal Computing and consequently I have grown up with the Computer Industry and been fortunate to work on interesting and leading edge projects.

I worked on early graphic primitives in low level languages like C and ASM and higher level languages like Xbase for business applications. I worked on developing and deploying management and operations systems for companies that had no IT systems at all. Early email, e-commerce, hypertext, video mail etc. and It was all brand new, exciting and a real "Frontier" atmosphere.

I became R&D manager and finally Business Development Manager for one of Britain's first ISP'S, CIX. We ran a multimedia workshop investigating the possibilities and commercial viability of new technologies etc. I have used and worked with all aspects of Multimedia to create art since its beginning.

During that time we commissioned what was to be the first public work of art for the Internet. The piece was made by the Hull based artist, John Stead. It was a Sonnet Lumière consisting of Fractal Transformations and music from The Electro Acoustic Ensemble. It was a rather idealistic project, but the work was innovative and totally original. I imagine that the entire project got lost in time and a lack of money. It was shown and presented to the world at Hull City Art Gallery, I can't remember what year it was though..

Subsequently I have worked as an IT consultant for many large corporations. The last one of note was for a European Telco, running a engineering design team working in product development. We created the technology infrastructure behind the companies mobile Internet services (MMS, WAP etc.) and built Europe's first GPRS/2.5G network. It is great to work on projects that are well funded and populated by people who are professionals, large corporations tend to do that better than most. I still work as a consultant in IT from time-to-time but I don't go looking for it, it depends what is on offer :)

I have been fortunate to be able work full time as an artist and photographer since 2002. I have never received a penny of funding from anywhere but from myself and the sale of my work. I don't want to begin a rant about the group of money burners that occupy that world but ….. :)

I also enjoy working as a carpenter and I have made furniture since adolescence . I prefer making out door structures and in particular in gardens. Where possible I prefer to work with reclaimed wood, this is cheaper but requires more labour. Some of the old wood stock is wonderful to work with. I am eager to make a Dovecot for someone, it would be done in a Pagoda Style and designed for low maintenance with built in plumbing and feed management system. If you are looking for a good carpenter call me! No job too small :)

I suppose the rarest thing about me is that I am an artist who sees beauty in well designed software and complimentary business processes. I love to see a business function well. It is just like a good painting and has the same components. I am easily at home in the business world because I am a "doer" and that is what they want more than anything.

I came up with the phrase “the ergonomics of information” whilst designing IT systems to replace the manual ones in place. This led to a deep understanding of processes and how people interact with them. I always saw them as streams of energy in the same way I see art or hear music. They call it business flow now or something like that. But the world is still full of badly designed interfaces!

I am not in accord with so called "Liberalisation" of business practices. This just means they have run out of creativity and that in order to survive they must short change everyone, and grind the life out of their workforce. The world screams out for efficient business structures and good business men to run them, where are they?

Art & Music Influences

Davinci in his Treatise on Painting said:

"In order to be an artist, one must first of all have something to express" which is followed to the logical conclusion that: No Expression No Art. The living of life is what gives you experience that can lead to potent expression and only in very rare cases do you get young artists whose work is precocious.

I believe that subconsciously I knew that to be a potent artist I would need more experience and I made a conscious decision that I would try to do everything and anything I felt would create growth, and do it well. The search for experience could also be stated as “where angels fear to tread”, the path of most resistance is often the most revealing but I have often been heard to say “why the f*** did I come here?”. A person doesn't need vast experience to create a work of art but without it you would tend to get more decoration than art. Experience has nothing to do with age but it can do, you meet some very wise children and some very stupid adults.

My approach to art is heavily influenced by the work of Franz Marc. I am not referring to style here. I felt an immediate rapport with his work the very instant I saw it. and the influence is that internal relationship I feel with him. I lived in Munich for about 5 or 6 years and I was familiar with his work but I suddenly found myself walking in his footsteps. I spent a great deal of time in Murnau , Kochel am See and the surrounding area hiking. I didn't make the connection between the place and the art for over a year, I just felt at peace and at home there. The plane emits different colours at different times of the year and being surrounded by mountains makes it a breath taking scene. I later became intimate with the work of the “Der Blaue Reiter” group, Münter and Kandinsky seem to have painted every inch of Murnau! It brought me even closer to a landscape I had fallen in love with and deeper and deeper into the work.

Marc was of a particular flavour of expression, it can be seen as a form of energy with certain characteristics that colour the output or expression of the individual. Another artist of the same expression was Joan Miró, I am also coming from the same source and our work has a similar keynote so to speak. It doesn't mean we are identical but rather the core of the expression and what we place emphasis upon in the vibration we create is closely related. This is happening on a very low level within the work. This is a complex subject and I intend to illuminate it further in forthcoming blogs. The picture above (Self Portrait) deals with this subject and is an illustration of the Constitution of Man, and is my particular constitution, from an energy stand point. If you understood the different qualities of the energies represented you would see me :)

As a child I drew birds and still have a deep affection for them today but my first encounter with art happened when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I saw a man in the street who had something magnetic about him and I asked my Mother who he was, she told me it was "Authur Dooley, he's an artist!" which seemed to give him license and I could sense his freedom. He had a studio, forge and gallery in an old pub nearby. I would pass this place on my way home and if it was open he was kind enough to let you come in and have a look at his work. His work was abstract and at times disturbing to a child but really made me think harder than I had ever had to think before. The sense of freedom and justice that he had never left me and I find great joy in his work whenever I encounter it.

I have embraced the work of many artists, they have been my teachers, my co-adventurers in art. I have had many great guides in art and I must mention a dear friend Frank Wilkinson of Wimbledon. Frank was a war hero, artist and most imortantly, kind person. There are three other artists whose work has made a big impact upon me, that of Jan Vemeer, Nicholai Roerich and the Scottish artist Benjamin Crème. I will write something on their work at some point but it would take up too much space here.

In the area of music I have been privileged to know a number of composers and musicians. One that I was most fortunate to know was Florian Fricke. Florian had a band called “Popol Vuh” and was an innovator. He was the first to use a Moog Synthesizer, was a part of the “Krautrock” rock genre and is best known for writing much of the music for Werner Herzog's early films.

The understanding I gained from him about the structure of music and music composition was a great gift! The way he imparted this to me was not in any conventional tutorial. Indeed, there was never any intention to teach or learn. I knew Florian as a friend, I knew he was a composer but I knew little about his work. I had become friends with his wife Bettina and was introduced to him through her. We seemed to be in rapport fairly quickly and our conversations were usually about gardening, travel, art and football. Very rarely music. We used to sit and listen to birdsong outside the family Bauhaus in Bavaria. When I would return home after a weekend there and I listened to music, I heard it in a different way. I was conscious of this but I never brought it up with him, it didn't seem important and may have disturbed the channel of natural communication we seemed to have.

Sadly, Florian died quite young and I still miss him very much! I had intended to help him republish all of his work as the copyrights were due to return to him. I shot a short film of that house and now that the family no longer live there, perhaps I should publish it. Watch this space!

In recent times I have made the acquaintance of Dave McCabe from the Zutons. He has a vitality that is the thumbprint on the music. He really is what you hear and I have learnt a great deal from listening to their music. He paints an interesting landscape with music and I look forward to many years of Dave's paintings. He is a musical inspiration to be with although music doesn't have to be discussed. It usually comes from the humour.

Music is one area I have neglected and I really should have created some by now. I always end up thinking up songs and tunes after I have been around musicians,. I should focus on it and follow through :)

The influences any of us have ebb and flow and this is almost vital for a full and vibrant life. I have begun to become aquainted with the work of :

A Liverpool Rap band that write disturbing lyrics. This is not for the faint hearted or for tender ears. Their songs could easily be dismissed as teenage crudity designed to shock, but that would miss the point. Their songs contain abstracted tabloid news stories in humourous, this is the rubbish that many fill their head with each day. They paint a landscape of British urban/suburban life that actually exists. Be Warned! These lyrics will be highly offensive to some and are unsuitable for children.

I admire this poetry, it resonates powerfully and we are all familiar with the great songs he has created. They always sound like a fountain of light, hope and Joy!

He sees the potential beauty of all in all, and strives to breach the walls of ignorance that stand in its way. You can read his work on his web site "Into the Light".

Gesamtkunstwerk

I seek to work in all mediums and my intention is to create a "Gesamtkunstwerk" or a Total Work of Art. I first came across the concept when reading Wassily Kandinski's “Spirituality in Art” and “Point and Line to Plane”. He highlighted the work of Alexandre Scriabin. It turned out that Scriabin had been a student of a body of work that I had also studied (Blavatsky) as had Yeates and many other artists throughout time. Scriabin was one of the first Multimedia artists from my point of view and sadly his life was cut short before we saw his very very best. He was a most interesting character, there was “Scriabinmania” in Russia, apparently he spoke to the Russians like few ever have.

What interested me was that he wanted create a work that would bring about the instant transformation of a person. To lift them into the light! Ambitious indeed but it is what I have arrived at and there is no turning back now :)

Contact Info

Email: bryn.gerard@gmail.com
Mobile: +44 (0)7508 019261
Twitter: BrynGerard