Theory.Practice.Exhibitions.

Even a cursory screening of Margaret Gest’s work reveals that she was deeply interested in technique and the aesthetics of various painting techniques. Her biography, by Miriam Thrall, echoes Gest’s commitment to various approaches to painting : “the desire to keep herself free to paint in her own manner irrespective of changing contemporary fads…”.

 

I would be interested in an exhibit which demonstrates Gest’s interest in techniques and presents her artwork with a process-oriented focus. There is a lot of information about where Margaret studied, locally and internationally, and gathering information about the artistic practices that were popular in those institutions over time would be useful to see what influenced Margaret and how she reacted to it.

 

It would also illuminate the history of our art culture, i.e. American art from this region. Focusing on process and technique, and artistic developments, could also be a way to understand Gest’s neuroses, as she seems very empathic, eager, and thorough. This interiority understanding of the artist is present in her paintings, and could be “shown” (as a complement to Alper’s seeing) more clearly in a thoughtful exhibit space. Gest’s approach to art also alludes to a larger dynamic between artists, ego, and art. Essentially, I’m interested in creating an exhibit that demonstrates Gest’s relationship to art, mapped on to information about her studies, which engages with ideas of the artist as a self, enacting a psychology through art.

I found threads that were more compelling than a geographic map of where her paintings travelled. What strikes me about Gest is her passion for two things: religion and horticulture. How do these intersect? In the introduction of Miriam Thrall’s “Margaret Looks Forth,” Thrall writes that Gest’s last words were :”It’s a splendid day for painting daffodils.” and, in a much longer passage she said:

 

There can indeed be such a flash of recognition. But the divine cause of it cannot be comprehended even by the most brilliant mind: True God is beyond mind’s reach. Thought ends in a mystery. But since, regardless of conclusion, one must start somewhere, let us begin with the assertion made by many philosophers in all ages that there is throughout and above the universe one final and abstract Power or Force. Ancient Chinese philosophy described it as something ‘Which existed before heaven and earth… It pervades everywhere and never becomes exhausted’ This Force, then, is assumed to be manifested in the world, transformed into myriad of mediums, tangible and intangible, moving through everything that exists. As it is written on the Egyptian papyrus, ‘Raise the stone and there thou shalt find me. Cleave the wood and there I am.’ The great mystics, Western or Eastern, agree largely with these views. The Force or Power they may also call Reality or the Eternal or the Absolute or the Transcendent or Brahma or Tao or God. These are antique names, perhaps, but it is hard to find better ones.

— “Common Ground” (Ms. Gest’s foreword to her manuscript on the History of Religions.

 

 

At this point, I’m stuck on questions on how to convey the beauty of her passions. Such questions that arise are: how can these two passions enrich the viewer’s understanding of MRG? Where does horticulture and the force of the divine intersect? How does one manage the expectations of the viewer?

 

These questions hang over my head not ready to yield the answer. But I do have a feeling, which is that one of the connectors between the two (divine and horticulture) is the Sun. An effect that I would want produced in the space is the feeling of the warmth of the sun. The feeling of the sun on the skin is something that bridges the gap between heaven and earth. Its rays create the cycle of photosynthesis and feel like the Force that Gest describes. While I don’t have an answer to how I will do this, I know that what I want to do is evoke the feeling of awe in the viewer that Gest did of nature and the Force.