We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Neil Myers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Neil below.

Neil , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Taking risks cuts to the core of what it means to be an artist. Artists who take their craft seriously need to always be willing to confront risks which are built into new ideas and new ways of expression. The primary thing that I learned about risk was that one always needed to be willing to take the risk of being yourself. That is truly the most important thing. The riskier, and therefore the less certain route, is one where you do work that is NOT meaningful to your soul and you highest good. The risk of authenticity…of being true to your innermost identity, that is aways the good risk to bet on.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began exhibiting as a fine artist almost by accident. When I moved back to the United States in 2003, after four years in New Zealand, I had a conversation with a gallery director in Tucson, which turned into a representation that was my first in the Southwest. I had been preparing to get some kind of other job…then I found myself making paintings because they were selling! That later led to a string of publications featuring my work, such as Southwest Art Magazine, Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine, Tucson Home and Garden Magazine, and the Washington Post.

I think that what I am most proud of is the creation of a body of works that are very much what I had wanted to create. When I saw certain places, I could see them in paint. I could see them in texture and bright colors, glowing and moving. The key was to try to gain enough skill to create the visions that I had in my mind. Fortunately, I was able to do this, and have now, for many years, done work that is very close to my heart. Work that makes me happy and is enjoyed by others.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Someone once said that the goal of every artist is the act of seeking to realize that our particular vision of the world is not just a personal opinion. It seems to me that when people collect my work, they become partners in the vision. They come alongside me and help me realize that this particular way of seeing isn’t solitary…others see it to. And those connections help make the fragmented world less broken, and more hopeful.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

It may sound peculiar, but I have come around to thinking that I am painting to save myself. In 2009 I was nearly paralyzed by a spinal cord tumor. I underwent surgery and a yearlong recovery, relearning to walk and to function. I still suffer from a great deal of chronic pain. And, in that light, I think my work has become my way of dealing with my reality. My means by which I defy all the pain and the things that have happened to me, and therefore helping me to cope. This may be what some call “tragic optimism.” And I think that defines me to a very large extent.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.neilmyersfineart.com
• Instagram: @neilmyersfineart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neilmyersart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmESgmm-mJ0ttXzcsnF4Ouw

Image Credits
These are all my images. My paintings, and my photographs.