Open Door Gallery

Jon Sarkin: Line by Line

January 9 - March 9, 2012

Opening Reception:
January 19, 2012, 4 - 8 pm

Book signing and conversation with the artist and biographer Amy Ellis Nutt, author of Shadows Bright As Glass: The Remarkable Story of One Man's Journey from Brain Trauma to Artistic Triumph at 7pm.

Jon Sarkin is a prolific, even compulsive artist who creates elaborate drawings and paintings cluttered with words and images. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, ABC Primetime, This American Life, GQ, ArtNews, The American Visionary Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. After a brain hemorrhage and stroke that nearly killed him, the once-shy ambitious chiropractor awoke with an effusive, unfocused need to create. He was a different man in body (deaf in one ear, his vision splintered, his balance permanently skewed) and in mind.

Jon's work lacks complete inhibitions as he creates vigorously almost to the point of obsessive/compulsive. His brain constantly tries to make sense of the world, and he constantly tries to make sense of his brain's failure - through colors and images and words. He cannot stop; he does not want to stop. In fact, he is afraid to stop. Jon has been referred to as the "Accidental Artist". He needs to create, put it all down on paper; it's his engine, his purpose in life. Jon is unable to see the world as a whole and unable to ignore it in its infinite detail.

Jon Sarkin: Line by Line is the artist's first solo show in Boston. In 2006 he was one of 13 artists the deCordova included in their prestigious Annual Exhibition. For that exhibition the museum replicated the artist's studio for an installation titled Infinity's Trial. At the time Nick Capasso, curator at the deCordova, was quoted as saying "I'm interested in Jon's work not because he had this weird stroke and he's this interesting, bohemian guy or because Tom Cruise gives a crap about him, I'm interested in him because he's creating really interesting work." (Tom Cruise's production company has purchased the film rights to Jon's story.)

Curator Lorri Berenberg says the exhibition showcases three series of works by the artist: large-scale mixed media portraits dramatically rendered on sheets of unstretched canvas; intimately drawn pastel portraits on board; and mixed media drawings on canvas that burst with a combination of words and images. Often working from photographs, Sarkin's large portraits are richly textured with layers of flowing lines and colors. The results are both raw and beautiful. As if taking a breather from the physical and emotional energy necessary to create these paintings, the smaller canvases reveal themselves more like stream of consciousness. In contrast to the portraits, these works are crowded with names of famous artists and writers, references to music and popular culture, and mysterious cartoon-like characters challenging the viewer to piece together the puzzle.

In April, 2011 Pulitzer Award winner Amy Ellis Nutt published a biography of Jon Sarkin titled: Shadows Bright as Glass: The Remarkable Story of One Man's Journey from Brain Trauma to Artistic Triumph. For more information and additional artwork by Jon, visit his website.

Read a Boston Globe review of this Open Door Gallery exhibit.

The Open Door Gallery promotes the work of artists with disabilities and shifts our community's perceptions of ability while enjoying quality art.