At twenty-eight McCall was married briefly to a young artist and photographer, Joan Hackett. They met in graduate school and together became a part of a group of artists, musicians and photographers who gathered in Key West, Florida to immerse themselves in art. McCall’s idea was to create a speakeasy bar he called “The Tentacle Room”; a place not only to network, but a place that allowed him to shed his six years of structured academia and explore his new artistic primitive direction. He was given the nickname Captain Squid, and his memoir, which is scheduled to be published in 2020, is entitled, Captain Squid and the Tentacle Room.
In 1977, McCall went to the Yucatán and explored the archaeology of ancient civilizations. He studied
the Mayans, their culture and symbolism. In the Mayan archeological sites, he did rubbings from stone carvings and in Tulum he created his first sand painting, mixing raw materials into wet sand. Years later, his sand paintings would become the centerpiece of major art events with some sand paintings as large as 60 feet.
In the 1980’s McCall married his second wife, Andrea McCall (now divorced) and with whom they have a daughter, Natalie. He spent the majority of his art-making career living and working in Los Angeles. Always a student of symbolism, his work centered around what McCall describes as “the development of communication from gesture to icon.” Walking a fine line between abstraction and realism, he often uses elements from Chinese philosophy and mysticism that “intrigue and amuse the viewer”.
He was inspired and mentored by his friend Walter Hopps (1932-2005) an American museum director, known for a rebellious spirit. In a 2004 interview with McCall, Hopps wrote, “McCall has been the first artist I know of to make beautiful image paintings of the I Ching symbols. I don’t know another artist who has done that.”
McCall considers the year 2015 as pivotal in his life and career. He had just come off a performance
piece at the Aqua Hotel in Key Biscayne during Miami Basel in late 2014. It was a conceptional curatorial project that later developed into The Pearly Gates Collection, a tribute to his friend Walter Hopps. It was also the same time that McCall met Reverend Michael Beckwith, whose spiritual guidance has been a major influence in his life. “Beckwith teaches to believe in oneself,” said McCall, “and for me, the spirit in this body connects to the Divine source, to the infinite spirit, to love, tolerance and kindness. My artwork hopefully relays those qualities.”
It was also during this period that McCall discovered the magic and spirituality of the desert. Introduced to the Joshua Tree art scene by a friend, McCall was quickly hooked and returned many times to the desert before his move from Los Angeles to Yucca Valley. In November 2017, he was hired by the Hi-Desert Cultural Center of Joshua Tree as the Executive Curator for their annex, the Yucca Valley Visual Performance Arts Center.
Today McCall spends a great deal of his time curating shows, fundraising and assisting other artists. Finding time for his own work can be frustrating but he continues to work on large projects and will often work on smaller projects at the same time. “A lot of experimenting goes on when you walk away
from your serious work, for ‘diddling’ as I call it, but” Mc Call adds, “the results will go back into your work if you allow it to.” He so believes in this type of experimentation that he wrote a manifesto on the subject entitled “Neo-Nitwittism”.
A recovering alcoholic, McCall meditates most mornings and is inspired by the spiritual teachings of Taoism and Buddhism. As he ages, he believes he works smarter. When asked what he would advise to the young artist Michael McCall, he replied “I would say, give it your best shot, persevere and don’t let anything stop you.”
From the young child who liked to tinker with things to the successful adult artist and curator, Michael McCall has come full circle to a place where he would likely say, “Wow, this is great!” McCall is represented in the Coachella Valley by Melissa Morgan Fine Arts in Palm Desert and will be included in a show this coming 2020 season.
