For some people, art comes naturally. They have the ability to pick up a brush or pen and just start to create something amazing. The image of a landscape remains as vivid in their memories as if they were still there watching the tides roll in and out. Even with false memories or entirely made-up ideas, these people can still create a mood, a feeling or an image forcing you to think that it’s real.
Old-school artist Paul Missal is one of those people. This guy has been around the Portland art community for around 40 years—teaching at the Pacific Northwest College of Art since 1972 and selling his work for a pretty penny at Blackfish Gallery, which he and some friends opened in 1978. Educated back east at both the Cleveland Institute of Art and then Yale University, Missal built a solid foundation for his future as an artistic genius.
“My artwork is always based in observation, with the subjects ranging from figure to landscape and still life,” Missal said.
Missal’s eclectic mix of subjects make the paintings seem to be from completely different artists. Not until you begin to see his trademark muted colors and the crisp perfection of the brush strokes do you realize that this incredibly diverse body of work is actually seeking to obtain the same spiritual fulfillment.
We’ll start here: A naked fellow stands with his wrists bound, a falling napkin covers his groin, with a red rose falling just milliseconds before. Surrounding his still dark image are flying knives, positioned almost everywhere near his torso. For the moment, he is untouched. Then, in what could feasibly appear just to the left, is a beautiful pink and orange landscape of giant craggy rocks sprouting up out of the ocean and reflecting off the shallow pools near the shore.
Missal also paints portraits—mostly of famous or well-known Oregonians that have been displayed in museums across the state. One portrait of the late Gov. Robert Straub stands out as a piece that tells you more than just who this man was or what he looked like but what he did while serving the state. All through the use of landscape, color and detail we eventually see the soul.
Missal is technically retired from teaching, but as a professor emeritus at PNCA he still drives in from Wilsonville to teach one day a week. What’s great about Missal is that he doesn’t fit the profile. Normally we think of teaching artists as the artists who couldn’t make a living selling art alone. Missal could, and has for a while. He teaches because he loves what he does and he attributes his success to the invaluable lessons bestowed upon him by his teachers.
Missal’s work doesn’t challenge societal norms, get political or invoke controversy. It’s simply beautiful and near technical perfection from a living man who has become one of this state’s most beloved and successful artists.