Todd Schorr
The World We Live In
Merry Karnowsky Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition of new works by renowned American artist Todd Schorr. One of the most prominent pop surrealist painters working today, Schorr uses the exacting techniques of the old masters to paint colorful cartoon characters, corporate mascots and other pop culture icons in a unique style he calls “cartoon realism.”
The Opening Reception on March 28 will be hosted by actor David Arquette, and a portion of the evening’s sales will go to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.
Schorr’s work is highly influenced by the popular culture of his childhood: post-war 1950’s America. His formative years were spent watching countless horror, sci-fi, war, cartoon, cowboy, and puppet shows on a black-and-white TV set, building styrene plastic models, reading comic books, and leafing through his parents’ National Geographic magazines.
The compulsion to replicate the characters he saw in cartoons, commercials, comic books and magazines led to a formal education at The Philadelphia College of Art. Schorr began his career as an illustrator in New York City, which exposed him to a new set of influences from the world of advertising and commercial art. Though his career as an illustrator was successful (his work appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1982), Schorr soon left the commercial world and began expressing his ideas on canvas.
Schorr says: “Like any artist of worth, it took many long years of struggle and investigative thought along with trial and error as well as constant honing of technique to reach the point where I felt I had created a language which, when spoken well, would command some semblance of purpose. I work in what is best described as a surreal style but filtered through the mind and eyes of what is, for better or worse, uniquely American.”
In 2008 Schorr’s work was shown at the Laguna Art Museum as part of “In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz School,” and a solo retrospective exhibition will be held at the San Jose Museum of Art in 2009.
Schorr’s work has been featured in Juxtapoz, Dangerous Ink, and in the documentary film, The Treasures of Long Gone John. Schorr’s most recent monograph is Dreamland, 2004, published by Last Gasp Press. His new book, American Surreal will be released in 2009. Schorr currently resides with his artist-wife Kathy in Los Angeles, CA.