Hawaii resident Ogden Myers will have an exhibit of his paintings at Stellar Beans Coffee House & Edibles at 319 Broad St. Ogden will attend the opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday.

The 85-year-old artist was born in Manhattan and grew up in Connecticut. After a term in the service, he attended the University of Arizona and the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles. He worked in architectural firms in LA until he got a job in architecture, mostly designing condominiums, in Hawaii in 1964.

“I’ve been there ever since,” he said.

The paintings on display will show quite a difference in style from the 1960s to 2010, he said.

“I could always draw what I could see, but as time went on, there were more and more compromises with the abstract — abstract thinking, abstract opinions, abstract appreciation.”

He studied Chinese calligraphy and has “modernized” some scripts in his paintings, along with Japanese writing.

At age 65 he took a course in philosophy and has given a lot of thought to the philosophy of art.

“Real is great, but it doesn’t tell me why I know in my heart that something is beautiful,” he said.

His daughter, D’Ellen Myers, teaches at Sowela Technical Community College and is urging him to move here.

Ogden Myers

see in this old photo