"In nature the new is mythic because its potential is not yet realized; in consciousness the old is mythic, because its desires were never fulfilled." –Susan Buck-Morss
CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions is pleased to present In Situ, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Adam Sorensen, on view from May 1 through June 17. Since 2006, Sorensen’s work has explored the craft and concept of the pictorial landscape. Incorporating influences ranging from the Hudson River School, painters of the American West, and the uikiyo-e tradition of Japanese woodcuts, Sorensen produces his own visual language, one that communicates a reverence both for the existing natural world and for imagined places.
“For years my paintings have been landscapes bereft of any particular subject or action. While creating the series of works in In Situ, I wanted to challenge that static space with a component that felt natural to the setting, yet contradicted its stillness,” said Sorensen. “The push/pull of the jutting rocks, occupiers of once-empty space, prompt the question of whether they are coming or going, forming or eroding. This ambiguity of subject is for me the crucial feature.”
Composed over long periods of time, Sorensen’s paintings demonstrate a methodical and precise technique, evocative of digital renderings. In his most recent works, crags and cliffs protrude from seemingly nowhere, only to disintegrate into the foreground. Disregarding the rationality of space or stasis of the landscape, these paintings celebrate the artist’s uncanny ability to invent worlds and provoke viewers into doing the same.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in Chicago and raised in Pennsylvania, Adam Sorensen now lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He has shown his work throughout the Western US and internationally, including at PDX Contemporary Art (Portland, OR); the Portland Art Museum; James Harris Gallery (Seattle, WA); The CW (Los Angeles, CA), and the Glasgow School of Art (Glasgow, Scotland). Sorensen studied painting at the Studio Arts Center International in Florence, Italy and sculpture at Alfred University in New York.
Adam Sorensen - Brontosaurus, 2015, oil on canvas, 64 x 68 inches
Adam Sorensen - Plant Life, 2015, oil on linen, 40 x 44 inches
Adam Sorensen - Balloon Animal, 2015, oil on linen, 40 x 44 inches
Adam Sorensen - Repose, 2015, oil on canvas, 64 x 68 inches
Adam Sorensen - God's Eye, 2015, oil on linen, 40 x 44 inches
Adam Sorensen - Guest 1, 2015, oil on paper, 11 x 14 inches, unframed
Adam Sorensen - Guest 4, 2015, oil on paper, 11 x 14 inches, unframed
Adam Sorensen - Guest 3, 2015, oil on paper, 11 x 14 inches, unframed
Adam Sorensen - Guest 2, 2015, oil on paper, 11 x 14 inches, unframed