Overview

"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. 

 

Biography

 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.

Exhibitions
Bibliography

•Art Buzz, The 2012 Collection: [JURIED] Art Buzz Publishing Company, Dunedin, FL

•Art Buzz, The 2013 Collection: [JURIED] Art Buzz Publishing Company, Dunedin, FL

•ARTSCENE WSKG-TV, Binghamton, N. Y. July 1983: (Televised Interview)

•Bogadottir, Johanna. "Mannlif og list gegn stridi,"  Fimmtudagur/ Morgunbladid, Iceland, 4/17/2003.

•Bowman, Stan. "Open Invite," Ithaca Times, Jan. 10, 2001.

•BroadwayWorld.com,"Kitchen Theatre Gallery Presents John Lyon Paul's Pilgrimage”9/25/13

•Bumgardner, George. "New Talents at State of the Art," The Ithaca Journal, Jan. 13, 1994.

•Barnard, G. William, Living Consciousness, , SUNY Press, Albany, NY 2011 (Cover Art)

•Chaisson, Bill & Glynis Hart "Shin Hollow Radio Interview," WVBR-FM, Nov. 17, 2013

•Conquer, Brad.  “Interview on the Light Fantastic Show at Crary Gallery,” YouTube 8/2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSjrITc_s2g

•DeDominick, Allison, “The Work of John Lyon Paul: Art and the Meditative Touch,” What’s HOT Magazine, July 2013, Cortland, NY

•Epoch, Volume 19, Number 5, 2000 Series, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (cover artwork reproduction)

•Ferry, Brian, "At The Crary: Two Artists converge" Warren,PA "Times Observer," 9/29/2012

•Friswell, Richard J.,  “Connecticut's Housatonic Museum’s Eclectic Landscape Exhibition,” Artes Magazine, 3/11/2018

•Hart, Glynis,  “Art From a Deep Place,” Ithaca Times & Finger Lakes Newspapers, July 2012

•Hart, Glynis & Bill Chaisson, "Shin Hollow Radio Interview," WVBR-FM, July 15, 2012

•Ithaca Journal: Ticket. "John Lyon Paul at CSMA" May 4, 2000

•Lindquist, Kenneth. "Summer Sculpture Show,"  The Column, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York. Summer 1983

•Miller, Valerie & Carrie Barrett, "String Room News," The Onyx (Wells College, Aurora, NY) Dec. 2000.

•Nahas, Dominique, “Resonance and Memory: the Essence of Landscape,” darte International, Vol. 18, No. 1, Summer/Fall 2015

•Perlgut, Sue, "Cruising the Art Trail: 3 interviews", PEGASYS PRESENTS, Episode 40, Fall 2015, P.E.G.A.S.Y.S. TV, Ithaca, NY

•River Art: 2010 Susquehanna International Art Competition, © Sudbury Press. 2011

•Sawyer, Paul,  "A Plea for Mercy in a Time of War,"  The Bookpress, Vol. 12, No. 6, October 2002, Ithaca, New York.

•Sawyer, Paul.  "The Laughter at the Heart of Being; The Art of John Lyon Paul," The Bookpress, Vol. 12, No. 1, Feb. 2002, Ithaca, New York.

•Schneider, Vanessa. “Instrument of Peace," The Ithacan, Vol.72, Issue 19, Feb. 17, 2005, Ithaca, NY

•Whitman, Arthur, "Abstraction and Glass: Local artist dazzles in new forms," Ithaca Times, Vol . XXXVII, No.8, Oct. 20, 2016, Ithaca, NY

•Yahn, Fred, "Visions; John Paul at the Arnot Museum," The Ithaca Journal, July 29, 1983.

•Zellars, Rachel “Pilgrim’s Progress," The Ithaca Times, May 24-30, 2000.

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