Jon Sarkin was an American visual artist based in Gloucester, MA.
Jon was best known for his frenetic and visually arresting drawings and pantings, which mix words and images. These drawings and paintings cross-hatch and scrawl their way through pop-culture, rock ‘n’ roll, the mundane, and the subconscious.
Jon’s projects, past and current, include:
- The cover for the Guster album "Easy Wonderful", and the video for the Guster song "Do You Love Me"
- Big Boy Art, a collaboration between Jon and photographer Paul Cary Goldberg
- The design for a hand-woven contemporary rug, woven in Nepal, for Landry & Arcari
- A commissioned mural for the Boston-area advertising firm Mullen
- Unchained Brain, an hour-long live show based on his experiences surrounding his stroke
Jon was also a visiting professor at the Pingry School in New Jersey, as well as Salem State college in Massachusetts.
Since Jon's death, studio staff are hard at work digitizing, archiving, and disseminating the art through sales and museum donations.
Artwork
The Books
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The art of Jon Sarkin is an unmediated outpouring of creativity emerging from a mysterious psychological space we all possess, but which is usually inaccessible. The door to that world was unlocked for Jon by a catastrophic event, but what was lost was also accompanied by a new ability to communicate powerfully through visual art. The door for Jon remains open and through it he continues to share his unique vision with the world. In this richly illustrated book Colin Rhodes provides an invaluable introduction to the artist's work. |
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In "Shadows Bright As Glass: The Remarkable Story of One Man’s Journey from Brain Trauma to Artistic Triumph (Free Press)", Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amy Ellis Nut blends a range of neurological findings with the inspiring personal details of Sarkin’s transformative—and artistic—rehabilitation. Below, Nutt details Sarkin’s search for his new self, “line by line, color by color.” |
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The strength of this book is the thirty amazing individuals with special talents with art, music, and memory abilities. Dr. Osvaldo shares how each of us may also have a hidden gift waiting to be revealed. |