New Exhibit Explores Joy, Pain of Human Experience

Russian born WWII veteran, concentration camp escapee and Petaluma-based artist Alexander Sachal is getting ready for a new show at the Petaluma Historical Museum starting July 16.

The artist, who has enjoyed numerous exhibitions during a long career, is a former displaced person who uses just one name, Sachal, pronounced Sa-shal. A resident of Petaluma for ten years, Sachal's upcoming show is a meditation on the spirit of human survival and communicates his personal zest for life.

“I chose trees for my theme because it is a way to raise consciousness that trees are not a businessman’s two-by-fours. In my paintings is a little man with an axe to say that trees are always under attack. They feel that little guy approaching,” Sachal said.

Sachal has a life history that could be turned into a movie. He was a teenage Russian soldier who ended up a prisoner of war, escaped and walked for a month until he reached France. He eventually became a member of the French Resistance movement with a code name: Le Jeune Russe, the Russian Youth.

“In my life, I have been in big forests, in snow storms, on the edge of freezing, dying of hunger; my spirits found their home inside me and helped me. They whispered: Don’t give up, there are sunny days ahead,” Sachal said.

Not only does Sachal believe that spirits comforted him, generating new hope and energy; he believes they granted him intelligence about how to handle all adversities.

“Their faces are framed with leaves. They smile and look at me with a great friendship. (They say) go to the trees. Be still and quiet. Listen acutely and you may hear them.”

In 1955, Sachal made his way to the United States and began working as a commercial artist, painting large billboards along the coast. In a San Francisco Chronicle article, he was described as the “The Michelangelo of Highway 101.”

Another period of living abroad studying art in Spain helped him develop a style that can be compared to Picasso’s purposefully jumbled images.

“The cool thing about Sachal’s extraordinary life experience is he could have been tarnished by it. But he is such an upbeat man. His art is bursting with color: a testament that happiness is a state of mind,” said President and Chief Curator of the , Joe Noriel.

“These works of art follow Sachal has he progresses through his life, growing into the realm of the spirits. Therein lies hope,” said Liz Cohee, a museum board member.

At 86 years of age, Sachal is already thinking about his next show. He would like to tackle the ugly things he witnessed during WWII.

“Like Goya painted the horror of wars. I think I should try to do that as a witness. The only problem is every time I intend to paint something horrible, I discover something beautiful,” he said with an apologetic smile. “I have to paint. I have no choice.”

You can meet the artist this Saturday, July 16 at 2 p.m. at a reception for Sachal at the Petaluma Historic Museum. The exhibit runs through Sept. 5.