B5
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2021
Artist
Continued from Page B1
“It really was a discovery to experience
my ancestry,” McLean said.
McLean later moved to Nashville,
Tennessee.
“I became a regional arts star. I showed
and sold everything I made,” McLean
said. “I had incredible friendships with art-
ists of all mediums … The Nashville com-
munity is super supportive of visual arts. It
was advanced beyond New York City, Los
Angeles and Europe.”
McLean continued writing, hosting
radio programs and creating art. He also
started teaching art courses.
In the early 2000s, McLean moved to
Texas, where he met painter and teacher
John Mulvany.
“He was incredibly prolifi c and (made)
work relating to the Iraq War and the right-
wing media. His densely layered digi-
tal pieces were fantastic,” Mulvany said.
“The drawings, fi lms/animations and
mixed media pieces point to his insatia-
ble work rate and restless search for new
methods of making art.”
The pair collaborated on an exhibit, “A
Prayer for Clean Water.” They also created
a magazine and an exhibit program.
“Paul was a force of nature in his abil-
ity to inspire and motivate people to build
an art community … At Shady Tree Stu-
dio, Paul helped to align several artists to
rebrand the studio gallery as Pump Project
Gallery, which went on to become a main-
stay in Austin’s art scene for many years,”
Mulvany said. “Paul was also instrumental
in recognizing the need and opportunity to
create and develop Cantanker, an art mag-
azine which was instrumental in elevating
Austin’s evolving visual art culture over
several years.”
McLean later moved to California,
where he earned two master’s degrees
from Claremont Graduate University.
While a student, McLean opened the Arts
for Humans Gallery Chinatown in Los
Angeles and virtual gallery, artforhumans.
com.
Susan Joyce encouraged him to open
the gallery. She is an associate of Sur-
vival Research Labs, founder of Fringe
Exhibitions and a curator. Joyce described
McLean as “someone you can always
count on” and a “dear, wise friend.”
“Paul’s vision is completely unique.
His work with the theory of the fourth
dimension is the most intriguing and visu-
ally captivating,” Joyce said. “He does not
create art that follows the art market trends
… These paintings are rather bright con-
sidering the gray of the Pacifi c Northwest
where he resides.”
After graduating from Claremont,
McLean started working on earning a doc-
torate degree from the European Gradu-
ate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. He is
creating paintings to accompany his thesis.
He later moved to New York City,
where he participated in solo and group
shows.
“New York City has always been a place
I want to make my mark. It still is. It’s the
center of the art world,” McLean said. “But
instead of becoming an art star, mid-ca-
reer, Occupy Wall Street happened.”
McLean joined Occupy, a protest
against economic inequality. He co-orga-
nized Occupy with Art, an “experimental
4D art production,” among other Occupy
projects.
Photos by Alyssa Evans/The Astorian
TOP: Paul McLean sits inside his home studio.
LEFT: A close-up of one of McLean’s paintings.
white print ‘Walker Expeller,’ satirizes the
algorithms on which the social-media par-
ody of the American public sphere oper-
ates, where every statement has to be chan-
neled in the one sexual-political direction
or the other.”
Finding Astoria
“Occupy was the most dynamic
moment in art history of our generation,
though that history pretty much is erased,”
McLean said.
During the movement, McLean met art-
ist, writer and professor Joseph Nechvatal.
Nechvatal described McLean as a “multi-
dimensional artist and thinker.”
“I dig Paul’s work because I sense in it
a blaming of the speed structures of infor-
mation-fl ow for the ills of our time: the
hyper-fl ow which we are all forced to (pre-
tend to) communicate in today,” Nechvatal
said. “For me, his art, like his black and
A few years ago, McLean searched for
properties in New York for his family to
move into. After searching for “Asto-
ria rentals,” he found a website featuring
homes in Astoria. He quickly realized the
website featured Astoria, Oregon, instead
of Astoria, New York.
“I called my wife Lauren and told her,
‘I found where we’re going to live.’ She
said ‘What?’” McLean said.
In September 2018, they moved into a
home near downtown.
“The timing of it was very opportune.
Between the social and civil unrest, the
pandemic and politics that emerged after
Trump was elected, New York City is not
the same place I really enjoyed prior to
2016,” McLean said.
Shortly after moving, McLean hosted a
home art show, featuring dozens of his cre-
ations throughout and outside the home.
Curated pieces still adorn every room in
the home.
McLean is working on fi nishing his
doctoral work. Since moving to Asto-
ria, he’s explored different possibilities
to showcase his art and collaborate with
other artists and organizations. McLean
hasn’t made defi nite plans yet but has con-
sidered partnering with a local gallery or
renting space downtown.
“There are a lot of possibilities that hav-
en’t materialized yet,” McLean said.
A large painting of
McLean’s, which he
plans to paint over to
create a new piece.
McLean discusses one
of his paintings.
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