John Sonsini by Miles McEnery Gallery

JOHN SONSINI

MILES M c E N E RY G A L L E RY

520 West 21st Street New York NY 10011

tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com

525 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011

JOHN SONSINI: A PORTRAIT By Marie Heilich

In 1969, the San Fernando Valley had a home-delivered free daily newspaper called The Valley Green Sheet that printed notably large images to illustrate its stories. As a college student, the young artist, John Sonsini, discovered a pathway to his budding gay identity in the sports section of The Valley Green Sheet. The frequency of the publication meant Sonsini was furnished with a constant supply of images of men to paint from. From an outside perspective, his fascination might have passed as a platonic enthusiasm for sports, but true to the artist’s modus operandi today, some fifty years after The Valley Green Sheet, Sonsini’s gaze remains a complicated one. This interlaced relationship between looking and identity continued for Sonsini while he was studying art at California State University from 1970 to 1975. During his college years the young artist began collecting vintage physique photography from the 1950’s, and ‘60’s “body beautiful” movement. Produced by photographers like Bruce of Los Angeles (the pseudonym of Bruce Bellas) and Bob Mizer of the Athletic Model Guild, the photos depicted guys with posing straps and muscle men on the beach. Sonsini recalls painting from imagery of Playgirl magazine after it was first published in 1973. Not only was he attracted to the imagery of nude men, but also Playgirl’s feminist-at-the-time operation of “flipping the script” and objectifying the male body. In the early ’80’s, Sonsini began incorporating his collection of physique photography into his work quite literally, by adhering torn clippings and photographs to canvases. In June 1986, John Sonsini was visited by a photographer who admired his use of the physique photographs and mentioned that the creator of the photographs had a studio not too far away. He was speaking of the photographer Bob Mizer, the founder of the Athletic Model Guild. Sonsini had been painting from Mizer’s black-and-white photographs for 15 years, so it was truly surprising and serendipitous for him to discover that the source material for

his work was coming from a studio on 11th Street - about a mile from his own studio on West 7th Street. Because Sonsini had been collecting Mizer’s imagery for so long, and the photography had a vintage look, Sonsini had assumed that Mizer’s photos were from a long-gone era. To learn that the person who had so much influence on his own imagery was not only alive, but working and accessible, was a total shock for Sonsini and he ventured out to find the Athletic Model Guild studio. For days, he culled the Pico Union neighborhood for any signs of the studio. He eventually passed a group of guys hanging out on the street with their shirts off. Sonsini had found the Athletic Model Guild studio. It was made up of three side-by-side Victorian houses. Behind the houses and atop a rear building was a range of fake mountains - the same mountains Sonsini had grown so familiar with in the photographs he had collected. Sonsini’s excitement in finding the compound was brief as his request for entry was denied by Mizer, a very private person. 4

Bob Mizer’s rejection led to a burst of productivity on Sonsini’s part. His new strategy was to paint portraits of the Athletic Model Guild models he met on the street. Every morning thereafter, Sonsini went to the Athletic Model Guild studio to hang out with the models and invite them to his studio for portrait sessions, in order to prove to Meizer that he was an artist. Sonsini was able to pay the models $3 an hour, a meal, and often a place to sleep. Before long, Sonsini had abandoned the projects he was previously working on and was concentrating on painting the Athletic Model Guild models. After a six-month period, through Sonsini’s friendship with one of the models, Mizer relented and invited Sonsini to stop by his studio, a vast complex with an iconic swimming pool, where he enlisted Sonsini to paint sets for his photo shoots. History places Mizer as the godfather of iconic gay imagery. His influence has been felt by artists like Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Bruce Weber, all of whom drew on his imagery. Sonsini, being Bob Mizer’s assistant, was involved in the very construction of said imagery. Entering the 11th Street studio as a fan, it did not take not long for Sonsini to be incorporated into the everyday activities of the Athletic Model Guild.

Photograph by Bob Mizer, 1947, Athletic Model Guild, Los Angeles

While assisting Mizer, Sonsini developed a charged and familiar relationship with the models he was continuing to paint in live sittings at his studio. Also while working for Mizer, Sonsini absorbed the relational process of working with live models. (For models, from 1945 on, Mizer relied heavily on his proximity to Hollywood and the ambitious young people who flocked to Los Angeles after the war. He quite literally found his models on the streets of Los Angeles.) Sonsini had found a place in the world at Athletic Model Guild and to this day refers to it as a sovereign state. With tasks such as painting a fake Pompeii, cityscapes, and Roman columns, suddenly, Sonsini found himself contributing to the imagery he had spent so many years in awe of while funneling the influence of Athletic Model Guild into his own practice. While continuing to paint the Athletic Model Guild models, working with Mizer had a significant impression on Sonsini’s studio practice of painting from the live sitter. Mizer demonstrated to Sonsini the fluidity and improvisation needed when working with live models. At the same time, Mizer stressed the performative, always aiming to, in his own words, “create a theater”. Bob Mizer passed away in 1992, and his studio doors were closed in 1994. Sonsini worked for Athletic Model Guild until the closure of the studio. The Athletic Model Guild studio’s closure returned Sonsini to his own studio. Soon thereafter, he met his partner, Gabriel Barajas, and knew who he wanted to paint next. Influenced by the legacy of Mizer, Sonsini was aware of the potential in focusing on one subject over many years. From 1996 to 2001 he

painted exclusively portraits of Barajas, introducing them in several museum and gallery exhibitions over the years. While painting portraits of Gabriel, “Early in 2001, I had met a fella in the neighborhood who I wanted to make a painting with. When I asked him about sitting for a painting he mentioned that if I have work, I should look for him at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Mariposa Avenue, where guys would gather daily looking for jobs. So, I did go there the next day and although I didn’t see my friend, I did begin talking with a fellow named Jesus. And in time, I painted several portraits of Jesus. My partner, Gabriel, urged me to return to Olympic and Mariposa to meet other sitters, which I did.” Sonsini did not drive at the time, so he navigated the city of Los Angeles in a much more public and social way than people who navigate the city by car. Sonsini, like Mizer, has found his models on the streets of Los Angeles.

What Sonsini absorbed through working with Bob Mizer he put into practice in his studio space and on his canvases. Looking back on his days with the Athletic Model Guild studio, Sonsini can trace back the influence of Mizer working improvisationally with live models, saying “Watching Mizer shoot changed how I work with a live sitter. His shallow space and that wide angle approach in my work all comes from watching Bob work. And of course his ability to let the model kind of guide the process. That was really helpful to me.” Gabriel Barajas has photographed many of the sessions, recording the daily activities and guests in the studio while capturing the energy and rigor of the sessions. Knowing what to paint has never been a question for Sonsini, and painting from life removes some decisions from the painting process. “The model shows up and it’s time for work.” He establishes his time in the studio much as he would any other job or task. To establish a professional working relationship with the sitters Sonsini keeps a organized studio. It is not only a space where he hashes out ideas, but also a place in which collaboration between sitter and the painter can unfold. Stepping into Sonsini’s studio, with its tall ceilings and windows that bounce soft light around the room, is like stepping into one of his paintings. In one corner, the original minty green studio color remains. It is now accompanied by a gentle shade of pink and blue, which also

makes its way onto Sonsini’s canvases. On the floors, short strips of blue and green tape make a constellation of sharp angles where past sitters were once positioned. The cast of characters is always rotating, as Sonsini meets new men for his sittings, some models have become friends in Sonsini’s studio, such as Miguel Antonio, a sitter who has worked with John for over 16 years. Working from life is fitting for the way Sonsini understands his studio practice. As he explains, “All labor of any sort, whether it’s mental labor or physical labor, has a context, you’ve got this situation to work with.” As trust builds in the working relationships he has with his sitters over time, the sitters witness Sonsini’s process quite intimately, failures and all. While it may seem like Sonsini learns a great deal about his models during sittings, he claims the models learn much about him. Most portraits give only subtle clues to the lives of the models, since narrating a story is something Sonsini had often resisted. “Even if one wanted to tell someone else’s story, it seems like a lot to ask from a painting. When peripheral objects, suitcases, caps, and soccer balls make an appearance they do so more in a manner of suggesting narrative rather than mapping out narrative.” One of Sonsini’s favorite narrative elements is a sitter wearing a wedding band. The small dash of paint is able to suggest an entire life outside of the studio without telling a story. Noticing the way objects could act as stand-ins for absent subjectivities, Sonsini began painting still lifes amidst his portraits in 2013. The process of painting from objects has been experimental for Sonsini, who has so concerningly engaged a highly social painting process. In his large-scale portraits, Sonsini’s brush strokes are loose as he makes a conscious effort to escape the trappings of realism. Sonsini notes that “painting is first a painting about, before it is a painting of”. Looking closely, the gaze of Sonsini is reflected in the gaze of the models. There is a supple tenderness to the way Sonsini renders his sitters. Enlarged hands and feet, or a slight glimmer on a nose barely hint at the erotic underpinning of the portraits. Through these residues of desire, a part of the subject is revealed that transcends a painted portrait. Central and front facing, the men in his portraits confront

the viewer with their body and gaze. A background bathed in impressionistic color fields mimics the light in the studio. Today, Sonsini and his partner divide their time between Querétaro, Mexico, and Los Angeles. His current portraits are situated within a complex interplay between the personal and the political. While Sonsini’s subject, Latino men, has been consistent over many years, 2019 has put issues of immigration at the Mexican border front and center, issues that have always been present for Sonsini, Barajas, and many of his models. While new political lenses can have a distorting effect on the original intention of the portraits, Sonsini accepts the many layers of complexity. “It’s highly unlikely that the reason an artist paints the painting is the same reason someone wants to look at the painting,” he says.

When I visited the studio, there was a large canvas with a composition of three sitters in soccer uniforms. Though it is a work in progress, it is easy to see that the painting achieves more than the sum of its parts. One sitter, who Sonsini informs me, is modeling for the very first time, stands with his back to the viewer and neck cocked back to meet the viewer’s gaze. While the subject is included in the composition it is clear that his position is slightly “off stage,” acting as a third party or referee as he observes the session he is taking part in. Because Sonsini has had so many lived experiences with the sources of his imagery that a viewer seeing his work for the first time is not privy to, social contexts are ripe for invention or distortion. Nonetheless, Sonsini decidedly accepts every reaction to his work to allow viewers to uninterruptedly have the intellectual and emotional space to formulate their own point of view. Situating layers of identity on the canvas, Sonsini’s work encourages viewers to navigate the complex gaze of desire and content, just as he as a young man found something he simply couldn’t shake in the sports pages of The Valley Green Sheet. Endnotes 1. Berry, Ian. “Belt Buckles: An Interview with John Sonsini”. John Sonsini. Ameringer McEnery Yohe; New York. 2016. 2. Loya, Paul. “Interview with John Sonsini”. John Sonsini: Day Worker Portraits. Long Beach Museum of Art. 2018.

Marie Heilich is a writer and curator based in Los Angeles.

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SONSINI By Paul Loya, Curatorial Associate, Long Beach Museum of Art

Interview conducted on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition John Sonsini—Daywork: Portraits, 12 October 2018 – 6 January 2019 at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

On a summer afternoon I drove to the studio of John Sonsini to have a conversation about his forthcoming exhibition, Daywork: Portraits, at the Long Beach Museum of Art. This is the first time a curated selection of works from this prolific series of portraits would be exhibited from its inception in 2000 to the present. Sitting around a table in the studio, in the chairs freckled with remnants of paint which have become regulars in his portraits, we begin our conversation. PAUL: I’ve been familiar with your portraits of Dayworkers for quite some time

and have seen them in various exhibitions, both gallery and museum exhibitions. How is the Long Beach Museum of Art exhibition different? JOHN: Well, the LBMA show is, what I’d call, the first comprehensive exhibiti-

on of the series. And, for this exhibition we decided to keep our focus almost entirely on West Coast collections. Here at LBMA we start with the first full figure portrait in the series, Jesus, 2001 and conclude with the most recent portraits of Miguel, 2018 and Francisco, 2018. PAUL: What’s it like for you to see all this work brought together, really for the

first time? JOHN: When we first laid out all the images chronologically, it certainly felt like

a kind of reunion of all these fellows I’ve painted. Then there was this other kind of reunion... of my eye and hand. So, yes there are the various stages of my series of portraits but there are also the various stages of paint handling, composition, narrative, etc.

PAUL: Are all these works painted from life? From an actual sitter? JOHN: Yes, correct. The presence of the sitter is really at the core of my pain-

ting process. Often, artists who paint from life report that they favor the live sitter because it provides a more accurate and more faithful reference. In other words you attempt to recreate exactly what you see. In my case, as I’m not really working towards an observational sort of realism, that outlook doesn’t much apply to me. Of course, I’m recreating a sitter’s likeness, which is already a very vague notion, but, most of all, I’m trying to give a sensation of the sitter’s presence. Although it involves an observational process, it’s really far more about the presence and quality of the paint, which is another way of saying, the hand. PAUL: Have you always painted from life? JOHN:

When I began painting in the 1970s and into the early ’80’s I worked regularly from photographs. Even though my works were not at all in the area of realism I still relied on photographic imagery to suggest images. All that changed in 1986 when I became involved with the legendary Athletic Model Guild studio and started assisting photographer, Bob Mizer. I began painting his models from life and that shifted everything completely. I’d always been interested in photography and my years at Athletic Model Guild alerted me to the fact that what I liked most about photography wasn’t the accuracy of how the image was recorded so much as, that photographs had this remarkable ability to recreate the sitter’s presence and that did set me onto a very new path in my painting. I mean, you know there I was, a young painter, being an assistant to the photographer I revered more than any other, and, what could I do with all that except begin painting the models and that in turn changed everything. PAUL: You often use the term “process” when you talk about painting. What is

the process? JOHN:

Well, firstly, the process is the routine of working daily with a sitter, until the painting is completed. We work each day from 1pm – 6pm and it is a very busy five hours. Secondarily, I paint in oils, which is a good medium for painting from life, because it remains fluid for many days.

PAUL:

So, five hours a day, daily—that’s a rigorous schedule for the sitter. I’m sure not every sitter you select is interested in that kind of commitment. Can you walk me through how you choose your model? JOHN:

You’re right, it’s a rigorous process. Much like any work relationship, you want to work with someone who will have a similar work rhythm as you have. We refer to it as painting a portrait and sitting for a portrait and it does have creative aspects to it, but first and foremost it’s an atmosphere of work that defines the whole process. It’s a unique person who’s willing and interested to return to the job day after day until the painting is completed. It’s a commitment. You know, often I’ve begun a full figure portrait, a large canvas and after a few days the sitter doesn’t return.

When that happens you just have to let go of it. I discard the canvas and move on to a fresh canvas and a new sitter. By the time I began (in 2000) this current series, I’d been working for years with guys I’d meet on the streets, so I’d already shaken off any sort of shyness or reserve about approaching someone on the street and making my “pitch” explaining that I’m an artist looking for a model to paint and this is how long it will take, and this is the pay, etc. PAUL: And, why “the street”? JOHN:

Well, for many years I didn’t drive in LA so it was natural to meet guys on the street. If you’re prone to that sort of random experience (as I am) then the streets of Los Angeles are a great place to compose paintings. I guess, it’s because of all the space, all the vast areas of uninterrupted sunlight, that seeing people on the street is like seeing people on a stage. So, seeing a few guys standing side by side on a street corner, well the image was already right there and looked like fully formed paintings. I’ve never experienced that anywhere but in Los Angeles and in Querétaro, Mexico where I also live. You’re just seeing images fully formed right out in the open. PAUL: How did the Dayworker series start? Why the Dayworkers theme? JOHN:

That was quite by accident. Sometime in 2000 I had met a fella in the neighborhood who I wanted to make a painting with. When I asked him about sitting for a painting, he mentioned that if I had any work for him, I should look for him at the corner of Olympic Blvd. and Mariposa Ave., not far from my

studio. So, I went there the next day, but did not see him. However, I began talking to another fellow named Jesus, and I ended up working with him for about two months, completing several paintings. My partner, Gabriel, really urged me to return to Olympic and Mariposa to meet other sitters, which I did and in about a year I was regularly painting various new sitters. Admittedly, I was self-conscious of my poor Spanish and it was at first difficult to communicate what I was doing. Very often fellas returned to my studio thinking that they were going to help me paint a room, and I complicated things further by announcing myself as “un artista”, which at the time I didn’t understand meant (in Spanish) singer or dancer. So, Gabriel set me straight about that and when I began using the term “pintor” (painter) well that worked much better! PAUL:

Sounds like, before you realized it, you had launched into a full blown portrait series. JOHN:

It took on what became a kind of permanent direction when, in 2005, Gabriel and I did an on-site project at The Hollywood Work Center. This is the large grouping of twenty portraits which is installed in a grid for this exhibition. Gabriel had found this center where workers gathered daily to be (by lottery) selected for various jobs. So with the approval of the staff in charge we visited the site daily each morning and explained that we were looking for sitters for portraits, which would be painted on site, for a certain number of hours and agreed upon payment. The guys that were interested in sitting for a painting would jot their name on a piece of paper and drop it in a box, where the Director would randomly select who would sit each day. I think each session was five hours and the only steadfast rule for me was that, regardless of the outcome, each portrait would take its place in the series, which we titled Dayworkers. A month later (truly the paintings were not fully dry) The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Director, Hugh Davies, invited us to show the Project as part of their Cerca series with curator, Rachel Teagle. PAUL: How did the other large group portraits come about? JOHN: The first large grouping, which is not in our current show, was a gathering

of several of the guys from the Hollywood Center. Then, there were many large paintings that followed, and by that time, so many guys were showing up daily at the studio hoping that I may want to do a painting. That’s really how the large portrait groupings came about. PAUL:

With those large groupings did you actually have everyone modeling at the same time? Wouldn’t that be almost impossible? JOHN:

When painting the groupings of figures, I always asked everyone to come daily and take his position, even if I was painting someone else. It was all part of the process. I wanted everyone there daily regardless if I was painting their image or not. It was just very important to me that we did not interrupt the vigor and the energy that was the motivation for me to paint the large canvases. PAUL:

How long did it take to paint those large groupings?

JOHN: Those large multi-figure paintings took routinely one month to complete 14

and, as I said, I would ask all the sitters to come daily. So everyone had a one month gig and that was great. Working at that kind of high pitch was wonderful. And, you know with all of us working daily for a solid month, the kind of unified front we created seeing this thing through to completion was fantastic. PAUL:

As you describe it, this series began in such a personal way. You’re a painter looking for sitters. And fast forward to 2018 and the series has now gathered other layers of meaning, even if the intent has remained much the same. Now your paintings are regularly associated with socio-political issues like immigration. Has that fact changed the way you view your sitters, and how you portray them? JOHN:

Well, there’s the situation about making and exhibiting paintings, which is rooted in the fact that the reason an artist makes a painting is very unlikely the same reason someone wants to look at the painting. The artist is never engaged in the same way the viewer is. You’re asking if seeing the subjects of my paintings, broadly speaking, enter into the current public, political and social discourse has influenced the way I view and portray my sitters? Well, you see, I’ve been painting Latino men in

mid-town Los Angeles for nearly thirty years. Therefore, the subject of immigration which is currently front and center in the public consciousness, has always been a fact of most the guys lives I’ve painted and for so many of my friends as well. Additionally, whatever political layering exists around my subjects, there exists also the fact that painting a portrait from life is already some form of political gesture that you can’t shake off. However, if I were to attempt to make my portraits a political statement or commentary, I doubt very much that they would operate very effectively as portraits. And, then there are all the technical issues to do with painting, with modeling—it’s work and that’s absorbing enough. There is also the fact that the painter very much wants to please the sitter with a good likeness and a convincing painting. So, that’s already a lot to tend to. PAUL: Because your portraits have this layer of socio-political content, it must

make them open to a vast array of readings and reactions. How do you address that? JOHN:

Well, yes... with the kind of portraits I make, and especially now with current political discourse yes, there are so many various reads into my process and into the paintings themselves. And, I accept that fact. PAUL: But, would you like viewers to “see” or “read” your portraits in a certain

way? JOHN:

No, I don’t think so. If you mean, do I wish viewers to have a certain experience with my paintings? No, I don’t really think like that. I appreciate that paintings attract responses, critical responses. That’s what art does when it goes into the public realm. It’s a magnet that way. So, if one doesn’t want to subject either themselves or the work to that sort of critique then I suppose you just leave the work in the studio. For me that’s not an option, it’s my livelihood. The studio is no place for a painting once it’s completed. In fact I think that’s when the object becomes “art”, when it goes out into the world. PAUL:

And, your sitters? I’m sure you are often asked how the sitter feels about the completed portrait. JOHN: Most times it appears that the sitter is satisfied with the results. I used

to have a sitter who’d tug at his ear when I was painting his face and this was

his signal to remind me to not make his ears too large! Very funny. And another sitter, David is pictured in a couple of the larger canvases. Whenever I’d finish his portrait (I painted him many times) he’d always insist on being alone with the picture for a while to kind of judge it without my being there. When he was pleased, he’d say....“Sonsini, it’s similar”. That was good. Of course, like any portrait painter, I want the sitter to like the outcome. With my brand of painting, that’s always possible and both myself and the sitter kind of accept that. PAUL: In the early years of the series, you seem to have focused on the image

of just the sitter or sitters alone without a lot of objects, backpacks, what have you. But, around the time of Saul & Lorenzo, 2008 where you’ve included some luggage and a large box, objects begin to appear alongside the figures. Could you talk about that? JOHN: Yes, that’s correct. At the start of the series I made a point of trying to 16

be non-narrative, I didn’t want to tell a story. Of course, images automatically summon a story to themselves, but, as far as I could avoid narrative, I tried to. So, most of the earliest images were focused on just the figure, the clothing, the faces. Very basic. I had always liked the August Sander photographic portraits of workers and how direct and frontal they were—just the subject alone. PAUL: And then luggage begins to make an appearance. JOHN: One afternoon Gabriel and I were in a second-hand store and Gabriel

spotted this large stack of used luggage. Gabriel decided to buy them and take them to the studio. I had no intention of painting them. They were just so wonderful to look at and to have around. Once they were in the studio they really seemed to release these vague human presences. It was very odd and many of the pieces had clothing and other personal belongings inside. It was very curious and so, they just stayed there, hanging around. When I was painting the Saul & Lorenzo piece you mentioned, well there was all this space, it’s a big canvas. I had planned out the composition with four sitters, but after the first few days two of the fellas stopped coming to work. So, one day one of the sitters just stuck luggage and boxes in the setting. I didn’t intend to paint them, I just wanted something to sort of “hold” the

space open until we could find another two sitters. After a few more days I just kind of gave in to what was there and just painted the pieces of luggage and the boxes. I very much liked the result and that was that. Thereafter, I began to allow so much more freedom with the addition of various objects into the paintings. I liked the luggage, because it did suggest a story but it wasn’t anything specific. PAUL:

You had such trepidation about the narrative and storytelling. How do you feel about it now? JOHN:

After the Saul & Lorenzo painting the entire issue of narrative ceased to be an issue. Painting the objects became so fascinating and such marvelous pictorial additions to the figures that I just stopped caring about the whole narrative thing. In time I began a series of Still Lifes which I’m still working on. The Still Lifes—absent of actual figures—are just objects in the studio which became even more curiously narrative. The entire “presence” through absence situation really caught my attention. PAUL: How did that come about? JOHN:

Sitters often leave behind all manner of clothing, belts, caps, backpacks, even discarded wallets. So, when I decided to try my hand at still life composition it was natural to use some of these items as subjects. That’s how it all took shape. In the flower arrangements I used artificial flowers, better than actual flowers. The flowers in my paintings kind of take on the meaning that flowers have always had for me. A memorial. Flowers just do that naturally. I remember seeing a wonderful Van Gogh drawing, kind of a memorial after his father’s death. There was this large floral arrangement alongside personal objects of his father’s. I think that drawing must’ve guided me to some degree. PAUL: And, the wallet became central? JOHN:

Yes, it did. There’s a painting in the show, Roger & Ramiro, 2012. Well, it was returned to me for a little repair job and so we unwrapped it and ended up spending a lot of time with the painting. It occurred to me that, with all this going on, both the sitters, the bare chests, the mirror reflecting a little caricature of me, well, it was actually the wallet on the bed that was most

important. So, I decided to put more attention to painting the wallet, along with some of the belts and caps lying around the studio. These Still Lifes started taking form and became an important part of my portrait series. Of course, they (like the luggage, and the cardboard cartons) gave this suggestion of something narrative that was not specific, just this wonderful broad reminder of a presence. It was interesting. PAUL:

You apply people’s names as title. Is that to continue the gesture of a human presence? JOHN:

Yes, it is for that reason.

PAUL:

So, would it be accurate to say that maybe by allowing the narrative to more freely enter the portraits, it’s also allowed the arrival of this theme of Still Lifes to take hold? JOHN:

Yes, I think that’s true. Also I do think that in very many ways portraits are in their own way very much like still lifes. They overlap at many points. 18

PAUL:

Do you think the still life is enough of a subject to actually one day demand your entire attention? JOHN:

Well, it’s a remarkable subject and since I do observe portraiture and still life addressing many similar issues, both pictorially and narratively, and they’ve coexisted in other artists’ oeuvres, I expect they will in mine as well. Of course, in terms of making the painting, one is a very social experience (working with a sitter) the other is a decidedly more solitary experience. So, they do carry a dual kind of approach that appeals to me now. PAUL: This is a large exhibition. You said at the start that it is, to date, the first

comprehensive exhibition of your Daywork: Portraits. Sometimes, a show of this size, especially devoted to a many years long theme signals the completion of a series. Do you have any thoughts on that? JOHN:

Well, seeing how narrative has become more a focus and, of course, still life (which I see as very attached to the portraits) yes, I think the series has already kind of undergone changes. In my case, certain guys I’m painting today have been working with me for so many years. What started as work-place relationships have become friendships. Now, in certain instances, I’m actually

painting portraits of friends. So, just in the course of working, and the passing of time, the direction of the series has widened. PAUL:

You also live in Mexico. Are you painting there? And, do you see that work as related to this series of portraits? JOHN:

Yes, Gabriel and I live in Los Angeles and Querétaro, Mexico. I did think that I’d likely continue my series there. But, one day while standing at an intersection I noticed these guys darting in and out of traffic performing quick tumbling and juggling routines. Then just as quickly they ran around gathering change the drivers would offer for the quick performance. I was really struck by that sight. It was so incredible, what they were doing. So, I walked over to a small group of these guys and made my pitch. Since then, I’ve been making portraits of these street performers. They’re known as Malabaristas! PAUL: How is your Spanish? JOHN: Well, I know enough not to call myself “un artista”! 19

Sergio and Francisco, 2014/2019 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 inches 182.9 x 152.4 cm

Roger, 2014/2019 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 inches 182.9 x 152.4 cm

Miguel & Christian, 2017 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 inches 182.9 x 152.4 cm

Francisco, 2018 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches 114.3 x 91.4 cm

Miguel Antonio, 2018 Oil on canvas 72 x 48 inches 182.9 x 121.9 cm

Apt. 208, 2019 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches 114.3 x 91.4 cm

Apt. 209, 2019 Oil on canvas 45 x 36 inches 114.3 x 91.4 cm

Antonio, Carlos and Francisco, 2019 Oil on canvas 80 x 90 inches 182.9 x 121.9 cm

JOHN SONSINI Born in Rome, NY in 1950 Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Querétaro, Mexico

EDUCATION 1975 BA, California State University, Northridge, CA

2010 “Broad Reminders: The Paintings of John Sonsini,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA “Portraits from Los Angeles,” Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT 2008 “New Paintings,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA 2007 “John Sonsini: Paintings and Drawings,” Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2019 Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY “A Day’s Labor: Portraits by John Sonsini,” Art Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 2018 “Daywork: Portraits,” Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA 2016 Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York, NY 2015 “John Sonsini,” Patrick Painter Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2013 “John Sonsini: New Paintings,” Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ 2012 “John Sonsini: Paintings,” Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA “John Sonsini: New Paintings,” Inman Gallery, Houston, TX 2011 “Los Vaqueros,” James Kelly Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM “John Sonsini: Men,” Hamilton College, Emerson Gallery, Clinton, NY

2006 “John Sonsini,” Cheim & Read, New York, NY 2005 “New Paintings,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA “John Sonsini,” Anthony Grant Gallery, New York, NY “Cerca Series: John Sonsini,” Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA 2003 “Portraits,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA 2002 ACME., Los Angeles, CA “John Sonsini,” Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2000 “Gabriel,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA 1999 “Gabriel, New Paintings,” Dan Bernier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1998 “John Sonsini, New Photographs,” David Aden Gallery, Venice, CA 1997 “Photographs of John Sonsini,” Tom of Finland Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1995 Dan Bernier Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1986 Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1983 Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1982 Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019 “Collecting on the Edge,” Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT

2018 “Belief in Giants,” Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY “Modern and Contemporary,” Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA “From the Collection of Karen & Robert Duncan,” The Assemblage, Lincoln, NE 2017 “The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers,” National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. “¡Cuidado! - The Help,” Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA 2016 “Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY “Us is Them,” Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH 2015 “The Human Touch: Selections from the RBC Wealth Management Art Collection,” Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

2014 “The Triumph of Love: Beth Rudin DeWoody Collects,” Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL “Who we are, Selections from the Collection of Karen & Robert Duncan,” Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Clarinda, IA “Concrete Infinity, Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA 2013 “Art of the West,” (on view through to 2020), Autry National Center of the American West, Los Angeles, CA “The Human Touch: Selections from the RBC Wealth Management Art Collection,” Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ “Mr & Mrs,” James Salomon Contemporary, New York, NY 2012 “Body Language,” Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA “All I Want is a Picture,” Angles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “SFMOMA: Contemporary Painting, 1960 to the Present: Selections from The Permanent Collection,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 2011 Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Works of Paper,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA “Mise-en-Scène,” Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR 2010 “Personal Identities: Contemporary Portraits,” University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA “Private Display,” New York Academy of Art, New York, NY “Disquieted,” Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR “Think Pink,” Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach, FL “The Human Touch,” Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE 2009 “Posture,” Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA “With You I Want to Live,” Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, FL

2008 “The Sum of Its Parts,” Cheim & Read, New York, NY “Other People,” UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA

1998 “Photographs,” David Aden Gallery, Venice, CA “Examining Sexuality,” Marc Arranaga, Los Angeles, CA

2006 “Selected Paintings - Los Angeles,” Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA “Twice Drawn,” Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY “Art on Paper,” Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

1997 “Private Reserve,” Photo Impact Gallery, Hollywood, CA

2005 “Plip, Plip, Plipity,” Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

1994 “L.A. Nude,” Photo Impact Gallery, Hollywood, CA “LAX the L.A. Biennial,” Otis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2004 “Rogelio,” (curated by JoAnne Northrup), San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA “About Painting,” Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY “Singing My Song,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA “SPF, Self-Portraits,” Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2003 “ACME. @ Inman,” Inman Gallery, Houston, TX “intimates,” Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2002 “L.A. Post Cool,” The San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA “nude + narrative,” P.P.O.W., New York, NY “Representing L.A.,” Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA 2001 “Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity 1900-2000,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA 1999 “Portraits from L.A.,” Robert V. Fullerton Museum, California State University, San Bernardino, CA “Painting: Fore and Aft,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1996 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, (curated by Michael Duncan), Santa Monica, CA “L.A. Nude,” Photo Impact Gallery, Hollywood, CA

1992 “Contemporary Figure,” (curated by Peter Frank), Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA 1991 “L.A. Nude,” Photo Impact Gallery, Hollywood, CA 1990 “Feminine/Masculine,” Christopher John Gallery, Santa Monica, CA “Time,” Marc Richards Gallery, Santa Monica, CA “Humans Being,” Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1986 “Issues,” Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1985 “Contemporary Monotypes,” Security Pacific Plaza, Los Angeles, CA “Paintings/Invitational Candidate Exhibition,” American Academy & Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY “Perspectives,” California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA

1984 “Pastels,” Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Seventeen Self Portraits,” Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA “No Finish Line,” Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “From Los Angeles,” Eason Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1983 “Figure Fascination,” Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Monoprints from Angeles Press,” Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1982 “Domestic Relations,” Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Four L.A. Painters,” The American Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

SELECT PROJECTS 2012 “The Extraordinary Life & Times of Bruce of L.A., 1948-1974,” from the Collection of John Sonsini, Pacific Standard Time Gallery Exhibition and Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2007 The Puerto Vallarta Project, Jalisco, Mexico The Brooklyn Project, Brooklyn, NY The Santa Barbara Project, Santa Barbara, CA 2005 DAYLABOR/Hollywood Work Center, Los Angeles, CA

SELECT COLLECTIONS

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT

Addison Gallery of American Art, Philips Academy, Andover, MA

Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA

ADA Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH

Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA

Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, CA

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

The Frances Young Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY

The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, CA Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN The Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University, Topeka, KS Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County College, Overland Park, KS

Published on the occasion of the exhibition

JOHN SONSINI 18 April – 24 May 2019 Miles McEnery Gallery 520 West 21st Street New York NY 10011 tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com Publication © 2019 Miles McEnery Gallery All rights reserved  Essay © 2019 Marie Heilich Interview courtesy of The Long Beach Museum of Art

Photography by Robert Wedemeyer, Los Angeles, CA Christopher Burke Studio, Los Angeles, CA Image page 5 courtesy The Bob Mizer Foundation, San Francisco, CA Color separations by Echelon, Santa Monica, CA Catalogue layout by McCall Associates, New York, NY ISBN: 978-1-949327-10-6 Cover: Miguel & Christian, (detail), 2017

MILES M c E N E RY G A L L E RY