"I knew that in my hands was an instrument with which I may perform Bach’s keyboard masterpiece. - John Lyon Paul
JOHN LYON PAUL about the GOLDBERG VARIATIONS collages
A piece of music, composed in the mid-1700s, reached my ear for the first time in the 1960s: Bach’s Goldberg Variations. I have carried it inside me ever since and listened to it hundreds of times. A gift of a large roll of paper was the inspiration for this series of collages. Inspired by the purity of its whiteness, I knew that in my hands was an instrument with which I may perform Bach’s keyboard masterpiece. I began each collage with the opening aria and proceeded in order through the concluding one. All the paper is from the same roll with hand colored pieces cut and arranged while listening over and over to each variation. The restrained color palette is appropriate to Bach’s measured explorations. Each collage is not to be “read” as a literal musical notation, but rather to be “entered” as one does a musical performance, enjoying the rhythms and the interplay of voices.
Paul began to make artworks in the 1970s, at the same time that he began to practice meditation.
John Lyon Paul was born 1943 in Ossining, NY, and lives near Ithaca in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Paul received a BA in English Literature from Hamilton College in 1965. John Lyon Paul began to make artworks in the 1970s, at the same time that he began to practice meditation. These two practices, one active and the other receptive, have anchored and informed his creative life, resulting in a large and innovative output of artworks. Entirely self-taught, Paul is presently the master of many materials and divides his time equally between painting and sculpting in the solitude of his studio.
John Lyon Paul has had solo exhibitions throughout the United States including the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum, IA; the Anderson Museum of Art, IN; Lederer Gallery, SUNY, Geneseo; Wells College and Hamilton College and in numerous galleries throughout the U.S. In 2010 he was the Featured Artist of the "Conflict and Visual Culture Project" at the Solomon Asch Center, Bryn Mawr, PA and in 2011 he was selected for the NYFA MARK professional artist program.
•Art Buzz, The 2012 Collection: [JURIED] Art Buzz Publishing Company, Dunedin, FL
•Art Buzz, The 2013 Collection: [JURIED] Art Buzz Publishing Company, Dunedin, FL
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSjrITc_s2g
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•River Art: 2010 Susquehanna International Art Competition, © Sudbury Press. 2011
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John Lyon Paul
A Visit to the Artist's Studio March 9, 2022This video is a virtual studio visit with the artist John Lyon Paul. Paul is the rare artist who has combined a lifetime of spiritual exercises and meditation with the making of sculpture and painting. His sculptures participate in the tradition of memorial sculpture, but with a syncretic spiritual quality drawn from Buddhist and other traditions.Read more -
The Byrdcliffe Forum presents the Forest Bathing Artist Panel
moderated by Sara Lynn Henry and produced by Doug Scheer March 11, 2022The Byrdcliffe Forum presents, via Zoom, the Forest Bathing Artist Panel moderated by Sara Lynn Henry. The panel was made up of show curator Jen...Read more