The "You Name It" Show
You Name It, Paintings by Gary Hirsch
The You Name It Show is an on-going project. You can see it live thru Oct. 31st at Artful Goods in Portland, or you can submit a title for any piece on this page (instructions below) and once it sells the buyer will pick a title from submitted names. If your name is picked you receive a t-shirt with the painting image on the front and your title on the back. We will be awarding "artist choice" awards throughout the project for unsold work. This means that your title could also be selected at random by the artist at anytime and you could also get your hands on a tee.
Thanks for Playing
Submit Your Painting Titles:
Help me name these paintings for the YOU NAME IT Show:
How to play: 1) Select the painting(s) above that you'd like to name. Some have already sold so those are closed for submission 2) Submit your title and info below. 3)Once a painting sells (either here on-line, or at a live show) the buyer will pick a title from submitted names. If your name is picked you receive a t-shirt with the painting image on the front and your title on the back. We will be awarding "artist choice" awards throughout the project for unsold work. This means that your title could also be selected at random by the artist at anytime. Fun for the whole family! Thanks for helping me name the art!
Artist Statement:
In 1988 I was home from college and painting in my garage. I had just finished a big piece that featured a demon, a scared man, and a cupcake. As I was washing out my brushes a seven year old from across the street roamed into the garage and stared at the painting. Without prompting from me, he starting into an excited narrative about the painting “ Oh this guy wants the cupcake but the devil is going to make him sell him his soul and then the cupcake will taste bad, and then……”The story took about 6 minutes…and it was fantastic, amazing, and much better than what I was thinking when I painted the piece. “What’s the painting called?” I asked Rory. Without a moments hesitation he said “Cupcake Anxiety”….I loved it…nice vocabulary for a seven year old. That experience stuck with me. Since that boy wandered into my garage, I have dove deeply into the world of story and narrative, mostly through my experiences as an improv theater performer. What keeps interesting me is the idea of incomplete story…of starting something and inviting the audience to finish it. Sure I have something in mind when I paint…..but so do you when you look at the painting, a single piece of stimulus can ignite a flood of ideas and stories. The pieces below as part of an exhibition called the “You Name It” show is meant to stimulate your own inner story teller, as an interactive , co-creative experience. I start it with the image…you finish it with the title. So enough procrastinating…. You have naming to do!