Painting Charles Merrill, Sam Walton + Walter Reuther
Myron isn't trying to create a photo. He's trying to create a feeling.
He paints in oil and acrylic, with a loose style that leaves room for the viewer to fill in the emotional gaps. What he loves most is the human face and how it holds the life lived in it: years of hope, loss, pleasure, pain, and raw emotion that time leaves behind.
He's also the one who started all of this. Influencers Over Time is one of the things he's proudest of right now, along with building the studio where it happens with his family.
His hope for the series is simple:
that artists expand their abilities, that viewers expand their idea of influence, and that he gets to have a positive impact on both.
For Builders + Titans, he's painting three of the portraits. Charles Merrill co-founded Merrill Lynch and helped bring investing to everyday families, the man who brought Wall Street to Main Street. Sam Walton started with one variety store in small-town Arkansas and built Walmart. And Walter Reuther led the United Auto Workers, fighting for the pensions and health benefits so many workers count on today.
He's been listening to their biographies while he works. As an entrepreneur himself, the question he'd want to ask Merrill is a practical one: how do I use my own business to help more people reach their financial goals?
More than anything, Myron hopes people recognize the human side of these figures. They had flaws and they still accomplished something great.
He hopes you walk away believing you can too.
When he's not painting, he's working, at church, or out on some kind of adventure that's more fun to talk about afterward than during. Dark chocolate is a staple. Diet Coke is a work in progress. And his favorite part of every show is opening night with the artists.
Builders + Titans is Part 3 of Influencers Over Time, a five-part exhibition inspired by TIME's 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
18 local Utah artists. 20 portraits of the people who shaped the modern world we live inside every day. Every portrait comes with its own audio story, and there are treats to grab as you wander.
🗓️ October 23–25
📍 The Studio, 4750 W 800 N, West Point, Utah
Admission is free!
