{"id":88579,"date":"2024-11-20T15:53:44","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T22:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=88579"},"modified":"2024-11-24T16:12:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T23:12:27","slug":"joshua-meyers-eight-approaches-is-a-dialogue-with-time-light-and-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/joshua-meyers-eight-approaches-is-a-dialogue-with-time-light-and-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshua Meyer’s “Eight Approaches” is a Dialogue with Time, Light, and Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joshua Meyer, “Eight Approaches,” 2022, oil on board, 40 x 100 inches. Image courtesy of BYU Museum of Art.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Downstairs at Brigham Young University\u2019s Museum of Art, between an exhibition highlighting Christian art from the 14th century to the present and two others exploring contemporary American art from the 1960s to the present, hangs a single work by Massachusetts artist Joshua Meyer<\/a>. Or, rather, eight works hung together and meant to be seen as one. During an artist talk at the museum on November 20, the artist described his artistic process and how it relates to “Eight Approaches,” which is on exhibit through January 18, 2025.<\/h4>\n

Meyer, who graduated with a B.A. from Yale University and also studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, initially painted with brushes, crafting highly detailed, realistic works. However, he soon found this approach stifling. \u201cThe first real pivot point was when I realized that those paintings, even the ones I was happiest with, were too intellectual,\u201d Meyer explains. Seeking immediacy and visceral connection, he abandoned brushes in favor of palette knives, squeegees, and other tools that challenged him to rethink his marks.<\/h4>\n

This decision led to a shift in his artmaking. \u201cThe knives forced me, with every mark, to rethink what my language was,\u201d Meyer says. \u201cYou can\u2019t blend things neatly or make long lines. You have to build one color up against another to create space.\u201d This layering process became central to his work, with each painting revealing its history through visible marks and accumulated gestures. Meyer likens this method to creating a narrative, where the viewer can trace the painting\u2019s evolution over time.<\/h4>\n
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Detail from one of the panels of Joshua Meyer’s “Eight Approaches.” Image by Shawn Rossiter.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Meyer\u2019s work is steeped in the traditions of modern and contemporary art, with influences ranging from Frank Auerbach and Philip Guston to Giacometti and Pollock. \u201cA painting isn\u2019t a thing; it\u2019s a process,\u201d Meyer reflects, citing Pollock\u2019s dynamic drip paintings as an example. \u201cWhen you look at a Pollock, you\u2019re watching Pollock in motion. It\u2019s like watching a dancer\u2014you\u2019re seeing the painting unfold.\u201d<\/h4>\n

This understanding of painting as a time-based medium finds a direct parallel in Meyer\u2019s Eight Approaches<\/i>. Each panel captures not only the act of creation but also the layers of thought, revision, and discovery that inform it. \u201cThe paintings are buckets of time,\u201d Meyer says. \u201cThey accumulate marks, ideas, and contradictions, because no single day\u2014or single thought\u2014defines them.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Though he doesn\u2019t generally work with a religious vocabulary and doesn\u2019t consider himself a religious painter (or at least not a maker of devotional work), Meyer sees the act of painting is deeply intertwined with his philosophical and spiritual beliefs. He sees parallels between his artistic process and the Biblical story of creation, where God evaluates each day\u2019s work before continuing. \u201cAt the end of every day, God steps back, looks at what He\u2019s done, and says, \u2018How did I do?\u2019\u201d Meyer explains. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I do in the studio. You make something, step back, and then go back into the project with new ideas.\u201d<\/h4>\n

The structure of “Eight Approaches” stems from Meyer\u2019s reflections on light and time, themes rooted in his practice as both an artist and an observant Jew. He drew inspiration from the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, during which light and time are marked through the nightly addition of candles to the menorah. \u201cIt\u2019s the holiday where we\u2019re striving for just a little more light each day,\u201d Meyer explains. \u201cThat idea of seeking and searching for light felt like a perfect metaphor for what I do in the studio.\u201d<\/h4>\n
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Detail from one of the panels of Joshua Meyer’s “Eight Approaches.” Image by Shawn Rossiter.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This connection led Meyer to conceive of the piece as a visual menorah, with eight paintings arranged side by side. The ninth element\u2014the shamash, or helper candle\u2014is symbolically represented by the viewer, who animates the paintings through their engagement. \u201cYou, the viewers, are the shamash,\u201d Meyer says. \u201cYou\u2019re meant to light the paintings by interacting with them, bringing your own stories and experiences into the dialogue.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Meyer intentionally designed “Eight Approaches” to resist a single narrative or resolution. While the paintings are interconnected through overlapping lines, colors, and patterns, their order was not fixed while he was creating them. The BYU exhibition is the third time the artist has exhibited the work and he says by now they’ve taken on a fixed order. \u201cThe final organization isn\u2019t meant to tell a specific story,\u201d Meyer notes. \u201cIt\u2019s meant to suggest a story. I want you to rearrange them, approach them from different angles, and find your own connections.\u201d This open-ended quality encourages viewers to reflect on their own relationships with time, change, and creativity. \u201cEveryone is complicated, with internal contradictions,\u201d he says. \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t a painting reflect that?\u201d<\/h4>\n

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Joshua Meyer: Eight Approaches<\/em>, Brigham Young University Museum of Art<\/a>, Provo, through Jan. 18, 2025<\/p>\n

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Downstairs at Brigham Young University\u2019s Museum of Art, between an exhibition highlighting Christian art from the 14th century to the present and two others exploring contemporary American art from the 1960s to the present, hangs a single work by Massachusetts artist Joshua Meyer. Or, rather, eight works hung […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/joshua-meyers.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 10:05:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88579"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88587,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88579\/revisions\/88587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}