Rising Stars: Meet Gary Palmer of Venice

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Palmer.

Hi Gary, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Born in Belfast, I grew up in a small town called Holywood during the years of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
After graduating with a Masters in Architecture at Universtiy of Edinburgh I travelled around the world making large scale chalk drawings on city streets. The Anamorphic Perspective drawings have been featured at festivals in Europe, Australia, and the US. I emigrated to America in 1996 and worked as a renderer and muralist on music videos and movies while establishing my studio in Venice Beach.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
With the influx of multiple tech companies from Silicon Valley studio rents increased rapidly in Venice. Many of the local artists dispersed to other more affordable areas of LA. The Venice Artwalk was not only a fundraiser for the free medical clinic, but also an important mixer for artists and great way to present work to galleries and collectors. When the studio tour was abandoned things became more difficult for artists and many more moved elsewhere.
For these reasons a studio tour in venice is so important to keep independent creative people in the neighborhood.
Venice Open Studios -(veniceopenstudios.com) is a project initiated by local ceramic artist elizabeth orleans to bring a studio tour back to venice.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m maybe best known for my 3D perspective drawings in public places – I’ve been invited to festivals around the world to do this kind of ephemeral work – events such as the world street-painting festival in Holland, the Bienal Del Sur in Panama.
In recent years I’ve been mainly focused on my studio work which is more intimate and more abstract. One recent project was two large scale paintings for Halle Berry based on my journey to Zanzibar series.
My work is diverse but each series relates to events in my own life which makes it unique and personal.
One project I’ve been engaged with past few years is an artist retreat in south of France.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
There are books and poetry that help inform the work.
I like the work of Samuel Beckett, especially his novel – Murphy. I also like the poetry of Dylan Thomas and WB Yeats. Mainly I like to read about ideas in physics – such as Hawking’s – a brief history of time. james Gleick – Chaos, Frijoff Capra -The Tao of Physics.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.garypalmerart.com
• Instagram: @garypalmerart

Image Credits
Gary Palmer