We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gary Paller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

My first ever sale was a large painting from my 1977 MFA exhibition at the Frederick S. Wight Gallery at UCLA. Emeritus Professor Wight saw my works and contacted Richard Sherwood at the downtown Los Angeles office of the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. I was really excited that my painting would go into the collection of a prestigious law firm and so pleased to meet Mr Sherwood who was so kind – aside from him having his own collection, including paintings by such artists as Richard Diebenkorn and Balthus, he was also president and chairman of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I bumped into him several times since then, the last time being at Market Street Gallery in Venice, CA when he and his wife came to see my exhibition there in 1990. Sadly, he passed away a few years later. My painting now resides in the Century City office of O’Melveny & Myers.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I did some art-making as a child, but started UCLA in 1970 as a math major. Many of my friends were creative people, and I was excited by film and music. With some encouragement from a friend, I decided to apply to the Fine Art School of UCLA and after taking a few fundamental courses, I was accepted into the department. Once I started painting, I knew that was it for me. I felt very confident that I could make pictures which could come alive, and that I could work through whatever difficulties I encountered and succeed in coming up with something which resonated with the force of life. I liked working figuratively, but even more I was excited by abstraction and the richness of color and shape relationships. I befriended much of the faculty and remained close to many for decades.

I’ve always felt an artist must be free to do whatever they want, to make their own rules, to evolve and follow their path, to not just keep making the same painting over and over or to find a formula for making art. It hasn’t been very easy for me to find quality gallery representation in my hometown of Los Angeles, though I have had some success here, I’ve had better appreciation in other places, mostly in Europe, where I have lived for a few years. I have shown in numerous galleries and museums in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and more.

I am primarily an abstract painter, working with acrylics on canvas, but I also draw regularly and have created a large volume of monotypes. I have worked with Wildwood Press in St Louis in 2013 and 2018-19 where we collaborated in the production of large-scale unique prints. In the past few years I have done a number of murals in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, most currently murals for the construction fence of The Melrose Triangle project by Gensler Architects in West Hollywood.

My most recent paintings are the most complex works I’ve ever created, densely-layered relationships of intertwining forms and shapes residing in a complex arrangement of space.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My portfolio was rejected when I first applied to enter the UCLA Art Department. I was determined to try again, so I took Basic Drawing with Mark Greenwold and Beginning Figure Drawing with James Valerio that summer and Basic Painting with Richard Joseph in the fall of 1972 (the class was supposed to be taught by Richard Diebernkorn, but he canceled his return to UCLA after his hugely successful show at Marlborough London). I got into the department on my next attempt that fall.

When I applied to graduate school in 1974, I was the number one choice ahead of 300 other applicants. The memory of having been ignored by the same people who later greatly appreciated me helps me to feel optimistic whenever I experience rejection and to persevere. My time will come.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me it’s just great to go into the studio and solve the problems that my paintings bring. I love that I can come up with new works on a regular basis which excite me, always having something new to think about, always making paintings and drawings which I didn’t know would be there. It’s an incredible journey which always interests me and I am sure will never end.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.garypaller.com
• Instagram: gary_paller_studio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.paller
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-paller-1a25589/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GaryPaller
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@garypaller4211/videos