MISSAKIAN'S ODE TO ANDY

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MISSAKIAN'S ODE TO ANDY

 

The Suburban Newspaper

Sept 5 2012

 

Berge Missakian, a soft spoken humble man, is a unique Canadian artist

specializing in Cubist style jazz paintings.

 

Misakian was born in Alexandria, Egypt of Armenian heritage and has

been living in Montreal since 1962, residing in Montreal West.

 

Missakian studied at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. and at Concordia

University.

 

Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, Tom Thomson, Henri Matisse, Pablo

Picasso, Joan Miro and George Braque, Missakian's forte are his

contrasting vibrant colors, full of embellished musical instruments

that seem to spring out to you from the canvas. Like the best jazz

musicians who improvise on a familiar tune, Missakian reinvents

lines and shapes so that the observer perceives the familiar objects

in a different light. He listens to jazz as he paints, selecting

appropriate music. Some of the jazz greats he has honoured are Louis

Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Winton Marsalis. He did a

painting of former president Clinton, playing the saxophone, when he

appeared on Arsenio Hall's show, attempting to win over voters, while

seeking election. Missakian has had many solo exhibitions nationally

and internationally and his works can be found in numerous private

and corporate collections world-wide. A compassionate man, he is

angered by life's injustices. In 1915, more than a million Armenians

were massacred by the Turks. In 1985 Missakian commemorated this

human tragedy by creating a collection of 15 paintings "Colors of a

Genocide". The collection has been acquired by the Armenian Library

and Museum of America, in Watertown, Ma. He has had two books published

about his art.

 

One of the galleries that represent Missakian is the Seaside Art

Gallery in Nags Head, North Carolina. A woman walked into the gallery

last year, fell in love with the artist's work and asked the owner

if he could arrange with Missakian for a portrait of her husband.

 

Missakian obliged. The gallery director told Missakian, "The painting

that you did meant so much to him that he had it in his room where he

saw it every day and always showed it off to his visitors. It gave

him a tremendous amount of pleasure." Her husband died recently at

his North Carolina home at age 86.

 

His name was Andy Griffith, the actor, whose portrayal of a

small-town sheriff made The Andy Griffith Show one of television's

most enduring and beloved series. The situation comedy aired from

1960-68. Missakian explained to me what each symbol in his 24x36

inch painting represents. "The stool in the far left has a book,

titled Matlock, that was the legal drama Andy starred in from

1986-95. The piano with Andy's portrait reminds the viewer of his

profound love and respect for music (his career started as a country

and gospel singer).There is a trombone player and a guitar player -

two instruments Andy excelled in and cherished. Within the painting

there is a painting of a lady - a reminder of the ladies in Andy's

life. The wine bottle and the wine glass are there to remind the viewer

of the good times Andy had always enjoyed. The fruits symbolize the

continuity of life. Outside, the open window with the warm sun and

the clear blue water are reminders of many good deeds Andy had done -

as the boat goes into the horizon. The flowers represent the amazing

blessings given by the Lord to Andy. The back of the painting has

my signature, the year the painting was done and my finger prints in

order to underline the authenticity of my Ode to Andy."

 

Locally, works by Missakian can be found at Galerie Lamoureux

Ritzenhoff in Old Montreal.

 

The Suburban, Bernard Mendelman, Berge Missakian, Ode to Andy

 

http://thesuburban.com/news/articles/?id=article00658

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