Richard Melloy’s new exhibit The Way I See It opens at N.W.I.P.A. (6350 SE Foster Rd.) on Saturday, July 18, from 6 t 10 p.m. For the exhibit, the renowned painter has produced one of his riskiest collections yet.
Melloy is a veteran artist and an inspiration for creative longevity. PDX Magazine wrote of Melloy in Issue No. 1: “[He’s] bullheaded enough not to quit and smart enough to adapt throughout a long career.”
Melloy, 57, graduated from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. He settled in Portland in the 1980s and was part of the nascent art scene in Northwest Portland that would go on to spawn the Pearl District. Now living in the Foster-Powell area in Southeast Portland, Melloy is a sought-after graphic designer, as well as a painter.
“As a self-taught painter, it seems like everything I attempt is a risk,” says Melloy. “First, I decide where I want to begin the painting. Second, I figure out a way to paint it. Both the idea and the technique are never static so I am always open to change or refining it. Both processes push and pull until the painting arrives. I am never sure if I know what I am actually doing until I decide if either it works or it doesn’t. Third, I have to finish the work, which as you will see is different form painting to painting, maybe the most satisfying part is looking at a painting and being able to smile because it’s finished. Lastly, there is a dialogue I have with finished work that is very different than the dialogue I have while working, sometimes it take me years to really ‘see’ my own work.”
To read more about Richard Melloy, read the PDX Magazine article from Issue No. 1.
— Ross Blanchard
