Deb Sokolow
{{short description|American visual artist (born 1974)}}
Deb Sokolow (born 1974) is an American visual artist who lives and works in Chicago. Sokolow's work uses both image and text to conjure connections among historical events, celebrities, politicians, and her own personal history in order to spur new consideration of alternate possible realities. Her work has been exhibited widely and is part of a number of permanent collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,{{Cite web|title=Hirshhorn Acquires Full Series of Ragnar Kjartansson's Acclaimed "Me and My Mother"|url=https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/hirshhorn-acquires-full-series-ragnar-kjartansson-s-acclaimed-me-and-my-mother|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Smithsonian Institution|language=en}} the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Willem DeKooning. Geniuses are nothing if not complicated in their methods and motivations {{!}} LACMA Collections|url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/2156194|access-date=2020-07-19|website=collections.lacma.org}} Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art,{{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow, Someone Tell Mayor Daley, The Pirates Are Coming, 2005|url=https://mcachicago.org/Collection/Items/2005/Deb-Sokolow-Someone-Tell-Mayor-Daley-The-Pirates-2005|access-date=2020-07-19|website=MCA|language=en}} the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art,{{Cite web|title=Linear Thinking: Selections from the Permanent Collection|url=https://smoca.org/exhibition/linear-thinking-selections-from-the-permanent-collection/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=SMoCA|date=13 February 2019 |language=en-US}} and the Spertus Museum.{{Cite web|title=Ground Level Projects|url=https://www.spertus.edu/ground-level-projects|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership|language=en}}
Biography
Deb Sokolow was born in 1974. She moved from Davis, CA to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign, where she earned a BFA in 1996.{{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow Profile {{!}} University of Illinois 150 Years|url=http://uofi150.news-gazette.com/people/deb-sokolow|access-date=2020-07-19|website=uofi150.news-gazette.com|language=en}} She attended the school of the Art Institute, receiving her MFA in 2004.{{Cite web|title=34 SAIC Community Members Featured on Newcity's Art 50 List|url=https://www.saic.edu/news/34-saic-community-members-featured-newcity%E2%80%99s-art-50-list|access-date=2020-07-19|website=School of the Art Institute of Chicago|language=en}} She is associate professor of instruction, art theory and practice at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she has worked since 2007.{{Cite web|title=Deborah A Sokolow|url=https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/persons/deborah-a-sokolow|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Northwestern Scholars|language=en}}
= Artwork =
Sokolow has described her work as “Text-driven narrative drawings”.{{Cite web|title=Episode 201: Deb Sokolow {{!}} Bad at Sports|url=http://badatsports.com/2009/episode-201-deb-sokolow/|access-date=2020-07-19|language=en-US}} She has shown works large enough to take up the gallery wall, as well as smaller drawings on notebook-size paper, as well as editions of hand-made and limited-run books. Her work includes drawings resembling floor plans,{{Cite web|title="Production Site: The Artist's Studio Inside-Out" at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA Chicago)|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/production-site-the-artist-s-studio-inside-out-25086|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.artforum.com|date=11 March 2010 |language=en-US}} architectural renderings,{{Cite web|last=Ruiz|first=Miguel|date=2017-12-07|title=Loyola's Fine Arts Complex Hosts 'Unapologetic Drawing' Exhibit|url=http://loyolaphoenix.com/2017/12/loyolas-fine-arts-complex-hosts-unapologetic-drawing-exhibit/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Loyola Phoenix|language=en}} as well as portraiture.{{Cite web|title="Production Site: The Artist's Studio Inside-Out" at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA Chicago)|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/production-site-the-artist-s-studio-inside-out-25086|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.artforum.com|date=11 March 2010 |language=en-US}}
Sokolow creates semi-fictitious narratives with drawing, collage and text which incorporate elements of history, politics, humor and the nefarious. Her large-scale installations, works on paper and panel, and artist books feature a nameless, paranoid narrator who uncovers sinister plots. Each piece includes writing which often present real people or real world scenarios, adding comical, fictional elements in order to invite the viewer to re-examine their own beliefs on a topic. Her work has covered many topics, including prominent or powerful men such as illusionist David Copperfield,{{Cite web|title=detail of "The Truth About David Copperfield" by Deb Sokolow|url=https://curiator.com/art/deb-sokolow/detail-of-the-truth-about-david-copperfield|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Curiator|language=en}} drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes,{{Cite web|title=The drug lord mansion-estates. Volume I, Amado Carrillo Fuentes {{!}} SAIC Digital Collections|url=https://digitalcollections.saic.edu/islandora/object/islandora:jfabc_2490|access-date=2020-07-19|website=digitalcollections.saic.edu}} Vladimir Putin,{{Cite web|title=Mr. Vladimir Putin's Photo with Women by Deb Sokolow - BOMB Magazine|url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/mr-vladimir-putins-photo-with-women/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=bombmagazine.org|date=November 2018 }} Frank Lloyd Wright,{{Cite web|title=New American Paintings|url=https://www.newamericanpaintings.com/blog/deb-sokolow%E2%80%99s-thoughts-men|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.newamericanpaintings.com}} artist Willem De Kooning,{{Cite web|title=Willem DeKooning. Geniuses are nothing if not complicated in their methods and motivations {{!}} LACMA Collections|url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/2156194|access-date=2020-07-19|website=collections.lacma.org}} and cult leader Jim Jones.{{Cite news|last=Schwendener|first=Martha|date=2013-03-08|title=An Installation of Dirty Politics and Illusion|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/nyregion/a-review-of-some-concerns-about-the-candidate-at-the-wadsworth-atheneum-in-hartford.html|access-date=2020-07-19|issn=0362-4331}} She has used personal history as the starting point of compositions, as in the 2010 artist book, “Briefcase Exchange, Men’s Bathroom, McDonalds, Washington, D.C., 1986.”{{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow, Briefcase Exchange, Men's Bathroom, McDonalds, Washington, D.C., 1986, 2010, graphite, acrylic, ink, collage on acid-free paper, accordion fold, hard-cover, 9 x 6 inches|url=https://artadia.org/artist/deb-sokolow/db_04/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Artadia}} Sokolow populated a large 2010 piece called, “You tell people you're working really hard on things these days” with an imagined set of characters based on the real-life occupants of Sokolow's studio as well as the sculptor Richard Serra.{{Cite web|title="Production Site: The Artist's Studio Inside-Out" at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA Chicago)|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/production-site-the-artist-s-studio-inside-out-25086|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.artforum.com|date=11 March 2010 |language=en-US}} Richard Serra had also appeared in a 2009 piece entitled, “Dear Trusted Associate,” in which Sokolow portrays a paranoid alternate reality in which the noted sculptor engages in criminal activity.{{Cite web|title=Dear Trusted Associate (2009)|url=https://debsokolow.com/section/148137-Dear-Trusted-Associate-2009.html|access-date=2020-07-19|website=debsokolow.com}}
She often works with three distinct voices, which all interact and disagree with each other.{{cite web |url=http://www.centerstagechicago.com/art/articles/debsokolow.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060829081917/http://www.centerstagechicago.com/art/articles/debsokolow.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 29, 2006 |title=Deb Sokolow Draws Chicago In: Visual Arts |last=Hinkel |first=Joanne |date=August 13, 2006 |publisher=CenterstageChicago.com |accessdate=14 November 2010 }}
In 2003, during graduate school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she had what she describes as an “art crisis,” when she “realized I didn’t know what the heck I was doing or wanted to do as an artist. I had no personal investment in anything going on in the studio, so I stopped making work.”{{Cite web|title=Caution, You Are Being Watched: Deb Sokolow and You|url=https://magazine.art21.org/2011/01/13/caution-you-are-being-watched-deb-sokolow-and-you/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Art21 Magazine|date=13 January 2011 |language=en-US}} She returned home, and spent time watching movies, notably Rocky (1976). In order to have work ready for an upcoming show, she created the piece “Rocky and Adrian (and Me).”{{Cite web|title=Episode 201: Deb Sokolow {{!}} Bad at Sports|url=http://badatsports.com/2009/episode-201-deb-sokolow/|access-date=2020-07-19|language=en-US}} The piece uses the tropes of a flowchart to analyze the love story between Stallone's character, the small-time thug and boxer Rocky Balboa, and Adrian Pennino, a shy pet shop clerk portrayed by Talia Shire.{{Cite web|title=Rocky and Adrian (and me)|url=https://debsokolow.com/artwork/210197-Rocky-and-Adrian-and-me.html|access-date=2020-07-19|website=debsokolow.com}} In addition to charting the relationship depicted in the film, Sokolow inserted references to herself in relation to Rocky.{{Cite web|last=Stamets|first=Bill|title=Art People: Deb Sokolow puts herself in the picture|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/art-people-deb-sokolow-puts-herself-in-the-picture/Content?oid=913688|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Chicago Reader|date=30 October 2003 |language=en}} In a discussion about this piece, an art history professor commented that looking at her work was “like doing homework.” {{Cite web|last=Stamets|first=Bill|title=Art People: Deb Sokolow puts herself in the picture|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/art-people-deb-sokolow-puts-herself-in-the-picture/Content?oid=913688|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Chicago Reader|date=30 October 2003 |language=en}} She has been expanding on this mode of making art ever since.
Someone Tell Mayor Daley, the Pirates are Coming is a single sheet of blue paper which maps out the narrator's suspicions that pirates have infiltrated your Chicago office. The narration is second person, and you suspect something is wrong when all of your co-workers are wearing bandannas and chunky gold earrings. As you delve further into the plot, you realize that the pirates are after Mayor Richard M. Daley's treasure buried at the former site of Meigs Field.
Her work has been written about in [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/nyregion/a-review-of-some-concerns-about-the-candidate-at-the-wadsworth-atheneum-in-hartford.html?_r=1& The New York Times], [http://westernexhibitions.com/sokolow/press/artforumdotcom2011.html Artforum.com], [https://web.archive.org/web/20130528121337/http://artinprint.org/index.php/articles/article/a_visual_turn_comics_and_art_after_the_graphic_novel Art in Print], and she is included in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130605231349/http://www.phaidon.com/store/art/vitamin-d2-9780714865287/ VITAMIN D2], a hardcover survey of contemporary drawing practices published by Phaidon. Podcast interviews include Tyler Green's Modern Art Notes Podcast and Bad at Sports. She is a 2010 resident of the Art Omi International Artists Residency and a [http://galleristny.com/2012/09/artadia-presents-45000-in-grants-to-seven-artists-at-expo-chicago-fair/ 2012 recipient] of an Artadia Chicago grant.
= Awards =
== 2012 ==
Artadia Award (Chicago): The Fund for Art and Dialogue{{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow|url=https://artadia.org/artist/deb-sokolow/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Artadia|date=16 March 2016 }}
Residency, Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dalsåsen, Norwegian Ministry Of Culture, Norway{{Cite web|title=Nordic Artists' Centre Dale / Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dale|url=http://www.nkdale.no/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Nordic Artists' Centre Dale / Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dale|language=en-US}}
== 2010 ==
[https://artomi.org/content/4-residencies/1-art/artomiartistsalumni.pdf International Artists Residency, Art Omi, Ghent, NY]
== 2009 ==
Works-in-Progress Residency, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL{{Cite web|title=Works in Progress: Deb Sokolow|url=https://mcachicago.org/Calendar/2009/04/Works-In-Progress-Deb-Sokolow|access-date=2020-07-19|website=MCA|language=en}}
== 2005 ==
= Exhibitions =
2023
Visualizing, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web |last=Waxman |first=Lori |date=2023-12-10 |title=Deb Sokolow's Wackadoodle World of Design |url=http://hyperallergic.com/861208/deb-sokolows-wackadoodle-world-of-design/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}
== 2020 ==
Loose History, Fine Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI (solo){{Cite web|title=Art Galleries {{!}} The Rita {{!}} UW-Parkside|url=https://www.uwp.edu/therita/artgalleries.cfm|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.uwp.edu}}
== 2019 ==
Profiles in Leadership // Drawings without words, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|url=https://westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/10836/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=westernexhibitions.com}}
2017
Deb Sokolow's archive of possibilities, curated by Kristin Korolowicz, The Stolbun Collection, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|title=Sokolow|url=https://www.stolbun.org/sokolow|access-date=2020-07-19|website=The Stolbun Collection|language=en-US}}
Conspiracies, Minimalism, and the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich: An Artist Book Retrospective from Deb (solo){{Cite web|url=http://westernexhibitions.com/solo-show-20/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=westernexhibitions.com}}
Sokolow. The Reading Room, Dallas, TX{{Cite web|last=thereadingroom|title=The Reading Room|url=http://thereadingroom-dallas.blogspot.com/2017/02/blog-post.html|access-date=2020-07-19}}
The Presidents (some of them). Reilly Gallery, Providence College Galleries, RI (solo){{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow: The Presidents (some of them) – Providence College Galleries|url=http://pcgalleries.providence.edu/exhibition/deb-sokolow-the-presidents-some-of-them/|access-date=2020-07-19|language=en-US}}
Deb Sokolow: Schematics, Surveillance, Murder, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL (solo){{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow: Schematics, Surveillance, Murder {{!}} University Galleries - Illinois State|url=https://galleries.illinoisstate.edu/exhibitions/2017/sokolow-deb/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=galleries.illinoisstate.edu}}
== 2016 ==
Men, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|url=https://westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/4977/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=westernexhibitions.com|title=MEN – Western Exhibitions }}
Debate Stage Water Bottles, G Fine Arts, Washington, DC (solo){{Cite web|title=G Fine Art Presents Deb Sokolow Debate Stage Water Bottles {{!}} East City Art|url=https://www.eastcityart.com/openings-and-events/g-fine-art-presents-deb-sokolow-debate-stage-water-bottles/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.eastcityart.com|date=19 April 2016 }}
Deb Sokolow for Syntax Season, PrintText, Indianapolis, IN (solo){{Cite web|title=PRINTtEXT|url=https://www.visitindy.com/indianapolis-printtext|access-date=2020-07-19|website=www.visitindy.com|language=en}}
== 2015 ==
Mr. F, Ski Club, Milwaukee, WI (solo){{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow|url=https://www.theskiclubmilwaukee.com/deb-sokolow|access-date=2020-07-19|website=theskiclubmilwaukee|language=en}}
== 2014 ==
All Your Vulnerabilities Will Be Assessed, The University Galleries, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX (solo)
== 2013 ==
Some concerns about the candidate / MATRIX 166, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (solo){{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow / MATRIX 166 {{!}} Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art|url=https://www.thewadsworth.org/exhibitions/past/matrix166/|access-date=2020-07-19|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719213911/https://www.thewadsworth.org/exhibitions/past/matrix166/|url-status=dead}}
Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|url=https://westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/deb-sokolow/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=westernexhibitions.com}}
== 2012 ==
All Your Vulnerabilities Will Be Assessed, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA (solo){{Cite web|title=Moore College of Art & Design – Deb Sokolow: All Your Vulnerabilities Will Be Assessed|url=https://moore.edu/calendar/the-galleries-at-moore/deb-sokolow-all-your-vulnerabilities-will-be-assessed|access-date=2020-07-19|website=moore.edu|archive-date=2020-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720015240/https://moore.edu/calendar/the-galleries-at-moore/deb-sokolow-all-your-vulnerabilities-will-be-assessed|url-status=dead}}
== 2011 ==
Notes on Denver International Airport and the New World Order, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY (solo){{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow: Notes On Denver International Airport And The New World Order|url=https://www.abronsartscenter.org/on-view/exhibits/deb-sokolow-notes-on-denver-international-airport-and-the-new-world-order/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Abrons Arts Center|archive-date=2020-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719213911/https://www.abronsartscenter.org/on-view/exhibits/deb-sokolow-notes-on-denver-international-airport-and-the-new-world-order/|url-status=dead}}
[https://www.lawrence.edu/mfhe/www_dept_art/Everyone/NEWSLETTER%2010.pdf Drawings & Stories, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI (solo)]
== 2010 ==
Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|url=http://westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/deb-sokolow-2/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=westernexhibitions.com}}
== 2009 ==
Ground Level Projects: Deb Sokolow, Spertus Museum, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|title=Ground Level Projects|url=https://www.spertus.edu/ground-level-projects|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership|language=en}}
== 2008 ==
You are one step closer to learning the truth, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO (solo){{Cite web|date=2008-02-22|title=Kemper ARTcast 2: Artists' Conversation|url=https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2008-02-22/kemper-artcast-2-artists-conversation|access-date=2020-07-19|website=KCUR 89.3 - NPR in Kansas City. Local news, entertainment and podcasts.|language=en}}
The trouble with people you don't know, Inova [Institute of Visual Arts], Milwaukee, WI (solo){{Cite web|last=Cretek|first=Stella|title=Drawing Conclusions|url=https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2008/01/25/drawing-conclusions/|access-date=2020-07-19|website=Urban Milwaukee|language=en}}
== 2006 ==
Secrets and Lies and More Lies, 40000, Chicago, IL (solo){{Cite web|date=2006-12-08|title=40000 - 119 N. Peoria, #2C Chicago, IL 60607|url=http://www.gallery40000.com:80/current.php|access-date=2020-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208102236/http://www.gallery40000.com:80/current.php|archive-date=2006-12-08}}
== 2005 ==
Someone tell Mayor Daley, the pirates are coming, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (solo){{Cite web|title=Deb Sokolow, Someone Tell Mayor Daley, The Pirates Are Coming, 2005|url=https://mcachicago.org/Collection/Items/2005/Deb-Sokolow-Someone-Tell-Mayor-Daley-The-Pirates-2005|access-date=2020-07-19|website=MCA|language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
- [http://debsokolow.com/home.html Personal website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718031921/http://www.westernexhibitions.com/sokolow/bio.html Biography at Western Exhibitions]
- [http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2007/After-Pashke/ Chicago Magazine profile]
- [http://mca-worksinprogress.blogspot.com/2009/03/deb-sokolow.html Museum of Contemporary Art: Work in Progress] (March 4, 2009)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolow, Deb}}
Category:American contemporary artists
Category:Information graphic designers
Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
Category:University of Illinois College of Fine and Applied Arts alumni