Join us for a closing reception for abstract expressionist painter, Robert Missal "Universal Man." from the collection of Alan Robandt. Thanks to the generosity of Robandt, 100% of ALL sales from this exhibition will directly go to Fernwood Botanical Garden.
This is a FREE event. Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Dressy attire not required.
Robert William Missal
June 15, 1947 – April 12, 2020
Born on June 15, 1947, he was a long-time resident of Clawson, Michigan, part of the Detroit metropolitan area. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature. Missal had a strong love of the arts. He expressed that passion as an accomplished Abstract Expressionist painter, a long-time patron of several Detroit-area arts organizations and he was a classical/operatic music aficionado. When not enriching his and others’ lives through art, Missal enjoyed gardening and his membership with the Iris and DayLily Societies. And as a native metro Detroiter, he relished in diving into automotive history and design.
By profession, Missal was a commercial painter. The precision work may have contributed to his desire to be more expressive and free in his fine art. His style influences came from many currents in 20th century Modern Art. The strongest influence on his style came from Abstract Expressionist “action painters” like Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning.
From college graduation through the late 1980s, Missal’s desire to paint grew like an urge repressed, exploding in the early 90s. Vigorous, powerful, dynamic, uninhibited are just some of the adjectives characterizing his work. With the exception of a single painting exhibited at the long-enduring Royal Oak Art Fair, his work has never been exhibited. His paintings were a private matter – a conversation between a Universal Man, his talents and his media. Missal, a man with little internet footprint and unrecorded as an artist died on April 12, 2020.
The exhibition at Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles, Michigan, aims to grant Robert Missal a public presence and a recognition never achieved in his lifetime.