MERCER

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AABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO I was assigned todo a series of photographic portraits of Catskill fly fish-ermen for Fish & Fly Magazine. I had the good fortuneto meet some really interesting fly fishermen all dedicatedto the history, the culture, and “the scene” that is theCatskills. One of those portraits was of the painterGalen Mercer. Since that portrait, and to a degree initiallybecause of that portrait, Galen and I have becomefriends. The portrait shows Galen as a Catskill land-scape. It remains one of my favorites.

Galen

www.gmercerstudio.comGASPÉ GUIDE–Oil On Canvas–16˝ x 19˝–2003

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As a fly fisherman, he’s a flat outpristinely pure dry fly fanatic. He’ll tugon his tweed hat and harrumph andclaim less, but he’ll be wrong. Short ofhis friend Mike Kimball, I don’t knowanyone who even comes close. This is aguy who would ever so politely apolo-gize profusely, and then walk right overhis grandmother to get to a Hendricksonhatch in a quiet spot on the Delaware.Nothing gets in the way.

In a sense Galen is the Catskills, orthe Catskills are Galen or it’s just hard tounderstand where one leaves off and theother begins. It’s all a lovely confusion offacts and distortions, realities and illu-sions, hints and allegations, colored lightand colored shadow, contrast and mutedtone. On the canvas surface, Galenpaints, but deeper still it’s more a lifewell lived than it is paintings hanging onwalls.

He’s the grandson of two paintersand the son of another. He paints inlocations around the world, but his artis-tic homes are the rivers of the New YorkCatskills from Roscoe to Hancock. Hepaints food, landscapes, portraits, hunt-ing and fishing. Part of his heritagewould include the Hudson River school,whose members started painting theCatskills in the 1800’s. He would be mostat home having a “Noonday Roast” onthe banks of the Beaverkill withThaddeus Norris and the Houseless

Anglers in 1860. As such he was born inthe right place at both the right and thewrong time.

In his own words “I am always mind-ful of the internal force of whatever sub-ject I paint, its amplitude and preciseshadings. This critical but unquantifi-able essence is a visceral thing, pitched toemotion, then translated to color andtone. Most of all, I seek to make each ofmy paintings emphatic.” Marcel Proustsaid “The real voyage of discovery con-sists not in seeking new landscapes butin having new eyes.” Galen’s eyes remainnew and fixed on the horizon of whatmight be possible. He wants to find outand he wants to show us what he’sfound.

We’ve attached a few samples of hiswork. You can reach him at GalenMercer Studio. His paintings are repre-sented by a number of dealers, amongthem J.N. Bartfield and Peter Villa FineArt of Manhattan, and Stephen O’BrienFine Art of Boston.

–Walter Hodges

LOWER BEAVERKILL, AUTUMN–Oil On Canvas–22˝ x 28˝–2007

On the canvas surface, Galen paints, but deeper stillit’s more a life well lived than it is paintings hanging onwalls.

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TWO PHEASANTS–Oil On Canvas–18.5˝ x 26˝–2007 CLEARING STORM, CATSKILLS–Oil On Panel–12˝ x 16˝–2010

HEADING UP–Oil On Panel–12˝ x 16˝–2010

WEST BRANCH, EVENING LIGHT–Oil On Canvas–22˝ x 28˝–2007 FISH MARKET–Oil On Canvas–18˝ x 18˝–2010

STILL LIFE WITH GAMEBIRDS & CALVADOS–Oil On Canvas–22˝ x 28˝–2010