Artist Interview: Michael McCall

Artist Name: Michael McCall

Discipline: Painting mostly
Location: Los Angeles, California

What is your current state of mind?

What is your greatest fear?
Not getting any

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Hey Baby…

When and where were you happiest?
In the womb

Which talent would you most like to have?
Playing a musical instrument very well

A little more patience with others

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Having a child and helping her to become an adult

Do you have a “greatest regret”?

What is your motto?
No time like the present

Did you have a mentor? How was that?
Yes, a couple of them. Fantastic.


What makes you uniquely you as an artist and person?
Always on the move and adjustable

What 5 words would you use to describe your artwork?
Color, ideas, visual, challenging, quirky

What is your dream project?
Build a concrete mausoleum and bury all my artwork

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Persistence and Patience

Coyote… obviously, I relate to being a trickster

Describe your favorite color to somebody who is blind.
Cool to touch, with a scent of the evening breeze

What was your most memorable a-ha! art moment?
When I realized most of the art world is full of shit


Tell us about your current body of work?
I reclaim downed road signs, turning them into little jewels

How has your style and practice changed over the years?
Of course. It changes, circles back, gets reinvented.

Away from the metropolitan area and into another adventure… letting it flow and change as the adventure happens.

Artist Bio or Statement

My work has been described as a hybrid of abstraction and imagery, sometimes referred to as “Imagist.” Elements throughout the work: color, shape and form, help connect me to the abstract modernists of the twentieth century, but my use of graphic symbolism walks a line between abstraction and realism. The symbols appear as abstract metaphors of a personal journey of research and self-discovery, interlaced in fields of geometrics and color. My directions oppose the Postmodernists certainty of objective and scientific efforts to explain reality, instead relying upon my personal experience with a blend of abstraction and metaphysics to present a subjective outlook of the world. Additionally, the work exhibits a sense of humor, most notable in the titles of the pieces. In much of the work from the past two decades, I use elements from Chinese philosophy and mysticism that show a focus on an inner search, an enlightenment that tends to intrigue and amuse the viewer with a positive and harmonious outlook.


Image Reference

Size: 96” x 98”
Medium: acrylic and enamel paint, pages of the Iching, on aluminum
Year made: 2015

Size: 36” x 36”
Medium: acrylic and enamel paint on aluminum
Year made: 2016

Size: 68” x 68”
Medium: acrylic and enamel paint on aluminum
Year made: