'Portraits from Los Angeles' by John Sonsini at USU's Museum

The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University is the site of a new exhibit of paintings by the rising artist John Sonsini. The exhibit runs March 23 through May 29, with an opening reception March 23 from 5-7 p.m. at the art museum on USU campus.

 

The artist will attend the opening reception, and following, he will discuss his work during a public lecture at 7 p.m. in the Eccles Conference Center Auditorium on the USU campus.

 

In addition to his lecture, Sonsini is also featured in a public interview, conducted by art curator Michael Duncan. The interview takes place at the Study Center gallery in the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at noon, March 24. Duncan is a corresponding editor for the magazine Art in America and will discuss and explore the issues and political undertones of Sonsini’s artwork during the public interview.

 

Sonsini is a Los Angeles-based painter who has added new life to the traditional practice of portrait painting. His portraits are not of millionaires, celebrities or politicians, but Latino day workers living in southern California. The artist pays the workers their usual hourly wages to pose, fully-clothed, in straightforward poses. His simple portraits address the complex issues of immigration, labor, work and art.

 

The exhibition at USU will include the artist’s piece “Day Labor,” a series of 20 small portraits produced during a month-long project when Sonsini worked outside in the parking lot of the Hollywood Community Job Center, an agency that helps laborers find employment. Each day, one man would be selected by lottery to receive $60 to sit for Sonsini and he completed one painting each day.

 

Through these paintings, Sonsini has “portrayed men not usually noticed in American culture, hinting at their lives and feelings through nuances of stance, clothing and facial expression,” Duncan wrote. “Presenting his models face forward, eye-to-eye, he bridges a social gap enforced by immigration laws and economic strata.”

 

“A Whitmanesque affection animates Mr. Sonsini's art, and you feel it as much in the paint as in the portraiture,” wrote Ken Johnson in The New York Times.

 

Sonsini was born in Rome, New York, in 1950 and attended California State University, Northridge, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1975.

 

Sonsini is represented by ACME Art in Los Angeles, Cheim and Reid Gallery in New York City, and his work is included in the collections of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, The Broad Art Foundation in Santa Monica, High Museum of Art in Atlanta and The Saatchi Collection in London.

 

For more information or to schedule a tour of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, call (435) 797-0165. The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art is on the USU campus at 650 N. 1100 East, Logan, Utah, 84322, (435) 797-0163; fax (435) 797-3423. Information is also available at the museum’s Web site. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays. Admission is free. The museum is accessible to persons with disabilities.

 

Parking for the museum is available in the Orange Lot west of the museum. The parking fee in this area is $5. Museum visitors who RSVP will receive free parking, and parking is free after 5 p.m. and on weekends. Two dedicated stalls in the Orange Lot are available for museum members. Call Rachel for reservations: 435-797-1414. Parking is also available in the Big Blue Terrace, located near the Taggart Student Center, for $1.50/hour ($7.50/day maximum). Free parking after 5 p.m. is available at the Blue Lot, located at the corner of 700 North and 1200 East (by Aggie Ice Cream).

 

Writer: Casey T. Allen, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, (435) 797-0166, Casey.allen@usu.edu