Thanks to Kristi for the notice that Joe Sorren is having a sale for the holiday season. All of his prints at 30% off and can be purchased online at his site www.joesorren.com. Here are some of the prints that are being offered.
Portrait of Princess Elizabeth, Joe Sorren
La Luna, Joe Sorren
Horses of Arlington, Joe Sorren
Go buy one for yourself and one for me.
I first became aware of Joe Sorren’s work at Storyopolis in West Hollywood, that amazing children’s bookstore which has since relocated to the valley. What other kids book store has original Dr. Seuss drawings and vintage New Yorker cartoons?
There were two pieces hanging on a column at Storyopolis that caught my eye. They were the two posted below, “Those Two Guys…” and “Opus” which are now available at La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Feliz. Sorren’s work reminds me of those completely rare picture books I read as a kid that instead of simple adventures involving backyards and rabbits, were stories that were surreal and wild and scary and took me to places beyond what I could have imagined.
His paintings are a gentle moment of LSD lucidity with broad strokes of humor and playfulness and in each, underneath the surreal patina, a touch of something darker and sadder.
"Those Two Guys That Everyone Wishes They Had At Their Party", Joe Sorren
"Opus", Joe Sorren
I love the fact that all bets are off when you paint; the idea that anything can happen captivates me.
-Joe Sorren
"Elliot's Attraction to All Things Uncertain", Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
"When She Was Camera", Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
"Bump", Joe Sorren
"Astrea", Joe Sorren
I usually enter a painting with no ideas, and just begin applying paint to see what arrives. I find art to be most engaging when I am surprising myself. As long as I stay open for whatever to arrive, anything can show up for dinner.
-Joe Sorren
"Anthologia", Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
Unknown Title, Joe Sorren
"Jammer", Joe Sorren
"Glimmer", Joe Sorren
"Butterflies", Joe Sorren
Photography is 1% percent inspiration and 99% moving furniture.
Arnold Newman, the master of the environmental portrait.
Pablo Picasso, Cannes, 1956
Woody Allen, New York, 1996
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, New York, 1941
Igor Stravinsky, New York, 1946
Willem de Kooning, New York, 1959
My favorite Modigliani is in one of the great gems of Los Angeles, the permanent collection in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Many times I would pay the eight dollar admission, ignore the rest of the museum and just sit in front of this portrait with its tragic caption:
This work depicts Jeanne Hebuterne, wife of the artist, whom he met in 1917. Modigliani died of tubercular meningitis in 1920. Despondent over his death, Jeanne committed suicide the following morning. She was nine months pregnant with their second child.
Now that I am in New York, there are many more Modigliani’s, especially at the Met. But none come close to the one in Pasadena, the one with the slate grey eyes.
Portrait of the Artist's Wife, Jeanne Hebuterne, 1918, Amedeo Modigliani
Portrait of Michelangelo (after 1535) by Jacopino del Conte
“One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something will arise for later, something better. These things fill in from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
“After Michelangelo died, someone found in his studio a piece of paper on which he had written a note to his apprentice, in the handwriting of his old age: ‘Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and do not waste time.’”
– Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
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