Seeing Things – Gary McMillan

I think I must be seeing things. By this, I don’t mean that I am delusional, but rather I mean to exhort myself into actually seeing things. It is my job after all. For instance, I may look at a scene and may not be paying much attention until I note the exact shade of blue that I might be seeing in a rock. Other times, I may be staring blankly at a stretch of pavement while thinking about some annoying errand, and then I notice the elegant line of a crack. I follow the crack to a set of oil stains and perhaps a puddle that reflects the inverted image of a nearby tree. That is when I am seeing things.

Such is my world. Much of the time, I am not paying close enough attention. Even obvious things like sunsets and glorious vistas can escape my notice because my mind is preoccupied with something else. Yet as an artist, I MUST be seeing things. Then there are times when I actually make an effort to find things I have never even seen. These would be invented things which I would never even think about if I didn’t set aside the time to do so. These would be faces and creatures in strange settings whose lives I can only speculate on. I try to imagine different kinds of eyes which would reveal the world to these creatures in ways I can’t quite comprehend.

When I finally see things which give me pleasure and excitement, my main impulse is to translate them into images which I can share. Painting is the means by which I have settled on. This exhibit includes paintings of things which I have seen which stand out plainly, things which often slide by beneath one’s notice and things which are seen purely in the imagination. I hope you enjoy them.