Royal Nebeker

Royal Gay Nebeker (February 22, 1945 – September 6, 2014) was an American painter and print maker born in San Francisco whose prints and paintings have been shown widely in Europe and North America including in Art Paris at the Louvre, Gallery Steen in Oslo and the Lisa Harris Gallery in Seattle. His art has been collected by IBM, the National Gallery of Art in Krakow, Poland, the U.C.L.A. print collection and the Seattle Art Museum, among others. In 1972, Nebeker received a grant to live and work in Munch's Ekley Studio. Aside from multiple residencies and extended travel to Europe and Asia, from 1974 until his death in 2014, he lived in Gearhart, Oregon, and painted in a studio on pilings over the Columbia River called The Uppertown Net Loft. He stated that Astoria reminded him of Norway.

During The Great Coastal Gale of 2007, the upper floor of the studio was blown off, and Nebeker lost two years worth of his paintings. He and a friend, who broke his arm when the building lost its top, were trapped there for twenty hours in the midst of 160-miles-per-hour winds. They finally escaped by lashing themselves to a ladder and crawling to safety.

Nebeker's paintings include dream-like images (often collaged with posters and handbills from his travels), and quotes from: Kierkegaard, songs, scripture, and Ibsen, among others.

Nebeker kept a dream journal, a source for some of his work. There is a clear influence from expressionism, but Nebeker is less cynical and more humorous in the treatment of his subjects. Asked why he often painted words and phrases in Japanese and Norwegian on his work, Nebeker responded, "I don't like the way English looks, it is so blatant. It is too easy to take literally, too easy to see what it means. I don't intentionally obscure meaning, but I distrust clarity."

He is the father of Israel Nebeker, lead singer of the band Blind Pilot.