Born in Florida but immediately moving to Germany courtesy of his father’s job in the Air Force, George Bayer, the PureHoney artist of the month, started his world travels right out of the womb, living in five of seven continents thus far. “By the time I ran away from home at 15 years old I had moved every six months to a different country, city, or state,” Bayer remembers.
While studying film at the California Institute of the Arts, Bayer started to make music videos in Los Angeles. Explaining the beginning of his adult wanderings, Bayer said, “After watching a film called Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, I fell in love with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music. I went to Japan on a whim and decided to meet him.”
“I was able to meet him because when I called on the phone to ask, I said, ‘This is George Bayer,’ (which I guess sounds like George Meyer) and they thought I was the producer of The Simpsons. This led to an embarrassing moment when I said I didn’t like the program,” Bayer said. “Ryuichi thought this mistake to be very funny and we eventually became friends. I ended up staying in Japan for six years working on music videos for him.”
This whimsical tale is only one leg of Bayer’s many adventures, too many to fit into one column, but the point here is that, to have a career in the arts, he made himself highly adaptable to a variety of geographies and occupations. His secret? “As an artist, I have always felt that creativity is in the process of creating something…You must imagine something that has never existed before,” he explains. “You close your eyes and listen to a music track from a singer or band who wants you to make a music video for them. You close your eyes and visualize what will bring the song and feeling to life for the viewer.”
Bayer is very viewer-centric when it comes to his work. To encourage young artists, he has the following recommendation, “You need to find ways to engage with the people experiencing your art. When I have an exhibition, I go every day, all day, from the opening event to the closing. I do this so I can help the viewer understand my work, answer questions, and learn from their questions, and most of all learn from my answers.”
Bayer explains, “When you talk out loud about your creativity, you are forced to bring the reasons, motivations, and execution to life. You are forced to come out of your head and understand your own creativity.”
This emphasis on art as a form of communication, survival even, is likely rooted in his childhood (what isn’t, right?). Bayer recalls that, “When I was about seven years old, I had a traumatic experience which caused me not to speak a word for almost 3 1/2 years. I spent all my time listening and watching other people communicate. This gave me a deeper sense of observation and understanding of the world around me. This also gave me the opportunity to express myself through drawing as a form of communication to the outside world and to keep me sane.”
Visit Bayer’s work at the Palm Beach Cultural Council in Lake Worth beginning April 14th and he’ll be more than happy to talk to you all about Taiwan, Russia, China, Japan, or a handful of other countries, other media in which he has worked (print, stage production, fashion shows), or extend a congratulations for his recent selection as the artist used for the MOSAIC (Month of Shows, Art, Ideas and Culture) promotional materials this year.
Bayer was visting Singapore for an exhibition when he applied for the MOSAIC commission. He learned by email on the day he flew home that he’d been selected. Soon after, he won a $10,000 art fellowship grant from the Cultural Council — another affirmation of his choice to settle here. “Palm Beach is not only my home,” Bayer said, but also my creative hub and a very important part of my creative development and exploration.”
Find Bayer online at georgebayerartist.com and @george.bayer.370 ~ Kelli Bodle
