"Reality versus Reality" © PaS, is a curious little Flash Movie which depicts one of Gerard's forthcoming sculptural projects in concept form. The object on the left (shown here as a wheelchair although this will probably be a walking cane for the blind) will be a holographic photograph of the object. The actual object or "real" object will be placed to the right of this hologram. This "real" object will be affixed atop a powerful high speed motor which will revolve the object in a circular pattern. Not unlike the blades of a fan, no one blade can truly be seen, yet when looking at a fan you can occasionally catch a glimpse of a singular fan blade if only for a second or so. Likewise, then the object to the right will be spun so fast that you will only be able to see the object intermittently otherwise it will be a continual blur. The object to the left is static and always recognizable. The paradox of perception is that the holographic abstract is identifiable while the real object is indiscernible as it is spinning so fast.
"Hegel once said said that "In the dark all the cows are grey." I say that you should be really careful not to stick your fingers into what you think is unreal." G. Pas
Just click on an above image to watch this movie (134kb or 20 sec at 56k)

The “hEaVEN n eARTh Exhibition” 2001 consists of Gerard's oil paintings from the latter part of the last decade or the late nineties into 2000. These works have been compiled into an online catalogue which can be seen as part of the PROJECTS section here at GerardPas.com by clicking here.
The exhibition included many of the works seen in the Late Nineties Gallery: Sisyphus Descendants, Phaethon's Faux PaS, The Saints series, To Have and To Hold and the Tongues of Fire installation (as seen above).
The exhibition was first exhibited at the Museum London, London, Canada in the spring of 2001.

Gerard's most recently exhibited works were created for a collaboration with the Taiwanese artist Huang Chih-Yang of Taipei City. Both artists met in New York at the invitation of CrossPathCulture and created a large installation work titled "the foREST". This installation was part of their larger exhibit titled "corpoREAL exCHANGE" at the White Box - The Annex Gallery, New York, 2001.
While this exhibition was essentially a two person show, it was in fact radically different. How? Gerard and Huang elected to bring a stream of their individual works together in a synergistic assimilation of form and function. Gerard created several sculptures of wooden crutches returning back into the form of living trees. Huang documented germs using a digital video recorder. These two bodies of work were then brought together in the form of a large forest of trees. These trees were then mounted into beautiful metal stands (inverted tandoori ovens) in which, laying under a bed of rice, television monitors played Huang's DVD videos of germs.
The result of Yang's/Pas' collaboration brings forth an interesting paradox of ideas: both a very positive message of Healing and a focus on the tension between the ideal and broken body, the sick, germs, disease, etc.
Gerard made his commitment to "reach for joy" a reality with this out of the mainstream work, proving to provide a polemical discourse to anyone who might think that healing is easy.

Gerard first went to New York to visit family and the 1965 Worlds Fair wearing short pants and holding his mothers hand. He returned in the 1970's to work as an artist and build life long friendships. He has loved visiting, being and living there over the many years since. Even though he has a home and heart in Canada and he is a very much an Amsterdamer in spirit, his head and thoughts have always been firmly rooted in New York. "Iron sharpens iron and New York keeps you sharp!" GP. Over the last 3 years Gerard has been living in New York for long durations at a time: both as "Artist in Residence" for CrossPathCulture but also as a New Yorker. Fortunately, on September 11th, 2001 he had just returned to Canada for a short weeks duration. Nevertheless, he was back in New York on Sept. 15th and stayed there almost exclusively until Christmas of 2001, working on his exhibition with Huang Chih-Yang.

After we we're all moved by the tragic events of September 11th, he created a page of photographs and thoughts on his time there during the fall and winter of 2001. Too much pain, too many poisons, too much fear, too much anxiety and depression for too many but never too much love and never too much New York. A simple but heartfelt page of photo's on his activities and the ambience of the City of New York in a difficult and trying time for all New Yorkers.

Gerard has begun a small series of works which will honour and commemorate the victims and fallen soldiers of World War 2 - WWII. This is his way of saying “thank you” to those that gave their life’s during WWII so that we could live.
The above image conveys one section of a larger triptych. This image is of a Soviet Red Army T-34/85 Tank in Winter Camouflage. This is a work in progress and will be updated as the project unfolds.

Gerard started this work in 2004 and completed it this year after he was asked to contribute a work for an exhibition held in collaboration with a large “Junior A Hockey Tournament”. This hockey tournament called “The Memorial Cup” is being held in his hometown of London, Canada.
This work was actually conceived in 2002, after Canada won the Gold Medal at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. It is a reversible-hockey-stick-crutch © ® . To read more on why Gerard made this piece, or to view the work, please click on the above image or the flag below.

These photographs were taken by Gerard Pas of his garden and the plants that grow there. They were photographed from 2004 to 2006. During this period Gerard took over 10,000 photographs of plants that for all but a very few grow in his and his neighbour gardens.

In September of 2006, a memorial carillon will be erected in Victoria Park, London Canada, adjacent to the Veterans’ Garden and Cenotaph. It will be linked to a granite monument showing the locations of Canadian Forces cemeteries in Holland and Belgium where 6700 WW2 graves are located. This memorial will be given as a gift from the Dutch Community as an expression of thanks to Canada and it's Armed Forces, for their role in the liberation of Holland and Belgium during World War II. It will be presented to the Royal Canadian Legion and the City of London. The design of this memorial was created by Gerard at the request of the Dutch Community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Here is a postage stamp GerardPas.com designed to honour the work of Gerard Pas in his thirty-third year as an artist. An older Gerard can be seen to the right of the stamp, mesmerizing us all with his ambulatory tricks while the younger Gerard on the right, is enthralled with the idea that he can become a clown when “he grows up”.

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Just as you begin to think that, the world has passed you-bye, ignoring your cultural contributions to society or for that matter that you even exist. Museums and Art Galleries do not even bother to send back your unsolicited “postage paid” materials. Your dog is about to die, your wife says you stink up the house with beer farts and threatens to leave you if you don’t smell some art. You think I am sure going to miss that dog! As for smelling art, you calculate that if you had the sum total of all your art sales in life, you’d still be in debt. Yes, life is rough and the world owes us nothing!

Why not commission GerardPas.com to design you a unique postage stamp and make your day a very happy, happy day (Celexa not included). GerardPas.Com will design you a stamp that suits your own vision of yourself. Why not tribute yourself to lasting immortality as people are forced to lick you back and stick you to an envelope, only for philatelists everywhere to revel in your beauty.
Come on, while you don’t deserve it, money can at least buy you something… share the misery and make the muses sing.

Contact us at pains@gerardpas.com to place your order.

Lake House on Lake Canandaigua by Gerard P. PaS 2005-2012

watercolour on paper
70.3 X 21.3 cm / 27 5/8 X 8 6/16 unframed painting

* Dedicated to Gene Schneider and his family.
From the collection of The Schneider Family, Rochestor, NY, USA

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comments to come

As of 2008 Gerard began working primarily with his camera. As a result Gerard's works of the 2000's continues in our photographic galleries; which can be found by clicking on the above image of the camera. From the human figures, wildlife, landscape, macro photography, and other unique images, these galleries show Gerard's erudite vision and his current dedication to his art using photographyy.