Gary Nay

Gary has mastered the skill of iPad drawing and painting using the program ArtRage and this suits his whimsical style perfectly.

Being a native Vancouverite, the local places he paints are in his bones. Using new and vintage photographs and memory he begins sketching the basic composition then he adds and takes away until it is finished. His favourite button on this program is the “Back” button which allows him infinite alterations.

His final image then goes from his iPad to his iMac desktop for the technical part of actualizing it. He has complete versatility in terms of image size and medium, from cards to 30” x 40” prints on canvas. This way he can make his images very inexpensive. His original paintings are done last. He projects his iPad image onto a 30” x 40” canvas, pencils the image in and then paints with acrylics. Voila! A painting.

Gary’s works are full of hidden imagery for those who really look. Just have a look at his self portrait 'One Night in St Remy' at the top of the page. Van Gogh’s 'Starry Night’ in his glasses is obvious but did you get the bandaid on his left ear?

So much of his imagery is infused and layered with in jokes, messages, comments and tongue-in-cheek ironic humour. He places images that don’t belong and removes others to craft his statements.

This image of the Lion’s Gate Bridge was inspired from this old photo below (it’s surprising the that there was so much bridge traffic even back then!) You can see he has kept in the old pair of skis on top of the car (bottom left) in his modern day painting. It’s all very playful.

Here we see the back side the cement factory with it’s iconic giant mural in the background and the typical water traffic moving along but I don’t think that the paddler wouldn’t be carrying her groceries home on her board.

Not only are his iPad paintings full of whimsical non-sensical humour, they are infused with imagery referencing and borrowing from four of his favourite artists; Modigliani, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Picasso.

You will find Paul McCartney (or is that Gary?) walking across the crosswalk on Granville Island, look closer and you will see the his name, GNAY, in the arc over the street. A Strawberry cement truck from Ocean Concrete on Granville Island drives off the frame and is that a Henry Moore sculpture he is referencing in the bush behind the ‘Do Not Enter’ sign? I’ve probably missed something else too.

And here you find a Cézanne gentleman and the woman in Picasso’s ‘The Dream’ having a coffee together. It’s just so delightful and though provoking.

Here is Van Gogh’s his last painting 'Wheatfield with Crows' set in a Delta barley (think beer) field, just south of Vancouver.

Gary’s work is thoughtful, with a great sense of play, humour and visual intellect. It isdeceptively simple and delightfully engaging.

http://www.gnayart.com