Through The Eyes of Jon Sarkin

[Music] one of the very first pieces of art by the american artist john sarkin that i would ever encounter would be the chaotic and visually intense display of what to me at first glance would look like new york city on fire an image of a chrysler building can be seen as well as what could be interpreted as other city blocks in the distance the names of new york-based artists such as basquiat and warhol can be seen written down over and over again in fact this entire piece is filled to the brim with various phrases song lyrics and names dotted about in various places sizes and colors only to be engulfed by what could be seen as a most eye-catching element of the drawing which is a sheet of orange yellow and red crayon swirling like a blanket of flame over this incredibly complex and topsy-turvy world it leaves you walking away with the burning question what does it all mean and what inspired the artist to create such visually arresting imagery the more i would research and the more i would speak to dr sarkin himself the more i would realize how questions such as these are entirely valueless when you learn the real story and purpose behind this artist's craft each of these drawings and paintings that combine word with image displaying repeated words and doodles hundreds of cross-hatched lines and countless references to pop culture music film and media come from a perspective on life that is truly unique and prolific brought on by a brain injury that would not only change his own life but would bring something completely new to the outsider art world with his work displayed all around the world in many public and private collections from the american visionary art museum to the central upon padu in france john sarkin is starting to make more than a name for himself within the art scene but just what happened and how did a former chiropractor turn into such a one-of-a-kind visionary welcome to another video everyone today we'll be exploring the story and some of the mesmerizing artwork of john sarkin [Music] john sarkin was born on april 27th 1953 in newark new jersey usa he grew up in nearby hillside as a middle child of parents stanley sarkin and elaine sarkin zuslin john had an older brother named richard and would have a younger sister named jane his brother would later become a pediatrician and his sister would become for some time the features editor for vanity fair magazine according to sarkin his parents were heavily passionate about politics which would have a lasting impact on him when jfk was assassinated in 1963 zarkin recalls his father's reaction quote my father came home from work about the same time as this riderless black horse with empty boots placed backwards and stirrups went by the cameras he started to cry i'd never seen him cry before end quote as sarkin grew older he would become heavily influenced by the music that emerged during the 60s such as the beatles the grateful dead and jimi hendrix eventually learning how to play guitar himself however by 1972 two years after the death of jimi hendrix zarkin would lose his father who died at the age of 49 from a heart attack quote this is by far the biggest thing has happened to me up until now when i turned 50 man it was like falling off a cliff later in 1975 john would graduate with a ba degree in biology from the university of pennsylvania and received his ms degree in environmental science from rutgers university in 1977. shortly afterwards he received his doctor of chiropractic degree from palmer college of chiropractic in 1980 and barely two years later sarkin eventually opened up his own chiropractic office in south hamilton massachusetts the same decade he would marry kim richardson kim would recount how on the wedding john would jump up with the band at their wedding reception to play a few rock solos this and the birth of his son and later the birth of his daughters according to him would be seen as one of the happiest periods of his life little did he know that towards the end of his very decades his life was about to change completely [Music] at roughly 3 p.m on thursday the 20th of october 1988 on the cape ann golf course john sarkin and his friend hank turjan decided to enjoy a round of golf together on their day off as if the swift gust of wind that sarkin felt would signify the incoming nightmare he was about to experience in that moment on the eighth hole as he bent down to reach inside his golf bag for a tea he suddenly felt it he felt a nauseating dizziness as he pulled out his hand as if his brain had suddenly twisted itself somehow in that moment the sense of doom was so intense he wondered if these would be his dying moments upon cutting a game short and returning home sarkin's wife kim would instantly see something was wrong staring at him she asked what's wrong with you to which sarkin answered i don't know what happened i just know everything is different when the tinnitus a ringing of the ears finally crept in on sarkin three days later the sound grew more intense and shrill by the day by the end of the month it was nearly completely deafening sarkin would compare it to the sound of that of a thousand screaming baboons returning to work sarkin would find no less relief or distraction from the internal noise as he would write in his notes in the office he would dim the lights fold his arms on his desk and lay his head down in pain and hopelessness by december his friend and doctor john amberson would fail to find anything out of the ordinary with sarkin even after a thorough neurological exam but by now his tinnitus was not only painfully deafening but every other sound would be uncomfortably amplified even once comparing the sound of eggs crackling to that of gum fire as far as he was concerned enough was enough something had to be done one way or another it would not be until contacting a neurosurgeon dr peter ginetta at the presbyterian university in pittsburgh pennsylvania in the following year of july 1989 that it would be discovered a blood vessel has somehow shifted in john's brain and becomes swollen the painful distortions of sounds were due to it impinging on his acoustic nerve and would require incredibly delicate and potentially life-threatening surgery but with no desire to give up without a fight john agreed to go ahead with her procedure the very next month after a perilous operation the results at first would appear seemingly successful with john confirming to his wife kim upon awakening that the loud ringing in his ears had finally gone the following day however kim instantly noticed a distant glassy look in her husband's eyes he would even call for his dog to jump up on the bed even though she was back at home in massachusetts followed by what the nurse noticed as a huge portion of blood underneath the head bandages it would later be confirmed that sarkin had suffered a massive stroke brought on by a blood vessel that had burst near the bottom of his brain soaking the cerebellum in blood and causing it to swell causing blood to leak through the surgical bear hole in his skull and breached the wound john would swiftly be taken back to theaters for emergency surgery upon inspection it appeared that he had significant damage to his cerebellum and much of the left side of it had to be removed according to an article by the guardian janetta had made no obvious mistakes during the operation sucking stroke had been quote an unforeseen consequence the recovery would be long and agonizing a period in which sarkin would need to learn almost everything again from scratch he would describe learning to sit and maintain this balance as being like riding a waltzer at an amusement park his speech was now slurred his eyes were now unable to seamlessly process information causing him to have double vision images would sputter through his brain like the frames of an old film when it tears and tumbles off its reel he was also left completely deaf in his left ear sarkin would finally return home from rehabilitation in december 1989 after six months of transitioning from using a wheelchair to using a walker sarkin would finally be able to use a cane for mobility but he would never be without it for the rest of his life although recovering slowly but surely john would generally remain sullen and withdrawn during this time unable to finish sentences or finish combing his hair even the slightest task would at times feel almost impossible the strain it was beginning to cause to his wife and children was almost proving to be too much to bear but something was about to change despite how much that once was had now been switched off in his brain at the same time something new was beginning to switch on one day john would pick up a pencil and begin something that would kickstart a new life headed in a more positive direction in order to in some way face up to the new way of life that john sarkin now had to acclimate to he would one day start to write things down such as fragments of thoughts or words that popped into his head he would also start drawing circles or spirals or rows of zigzagging and crisscross lines on other occasions he drew cartoon faces which reflected his ordeal perhaps finding a sense of relief and therapy in his drawing he would become more intense and devoted to it eager to capture every image that popped into his head it would often result in him drawing the same thing repeatedly becoming increasingly conscious to discern the present moment of his day-to-day life before these things would quickly leave his mind again in other words this would develop into a lifetime commitment of constantly and relentlessly creating art this of course would not be an instantaneous transition jon had not yet even considered the notion of being an artist he would return to his practice in the spring of 1990 in spite of only working two days a week upon his return though his once beloved career had now become physically and psychologically exhausting by the end of each day as the physical and emotional requirements of his job began grinding it to a halt however the pencil in his hands would keep going continuing to doodle whatever and whenever he could day after day by the summer of 1993 john's sister would come to learn of these dazzling drawings and writings that he was now persistently creating and suggested that he submit some of them to the new yorker magazine who would get back in contact a few months later offering to buy eight of his illustrations this would be a vital turning point for sarkin to hear approval and interest of his drawings outside of his friends and family not to mention having money offered for them would be the first step towards eventually pursuing a newfound purpose and so despite feeling anxious and uncertain of the future he would sell his practice later that year and retire although the experience with the new yorker was an exciting prospect sarkin and his family still did not know if he would fully recover or if he would further improve nor did they yet see the true potential of his drawings aside from it being a clear therapeutic outlet for him he would still constantly battle with depression in frustration and the razor-sharp realization that his conditions seem to no longer get any better he would start to mourn the loss of his former life but with each passing day jon would come to accept deeper in his heart that this was for better or for worse his new life and his one and only choice now was to simply embrace it following his promising collaboration with the new yorker john was eager to keep up the momentum he would go on to submit his work to other establishments such as the new york times magazine and boston globe magazine from here onwards the future ahead was beginning to brighten with each spontaneous creative impulse that john would surrender to john was now hardly ever seen without a backpack full of paper pens and pencils sarkin's first official art show would be in new york in april 2003 one notable piece of art that appeared that day that now resides with john's sister in new jersey would be his large abstract piece called honor having said that though i do need to take that back slightly as it's important to note that john never actually titles his work he believes that if he did it would simply only restrict the viewer and their own experience of his work in addition it's also key to remember when regarding the artwork of john sarkin that the end results are almost seen as arbitrary or a byproduct of what john really embraces in his work which is the process very often an artist would typically have a subject or theme in mind and have at least a vague idea of what the end result would be but for john his art is all about the moment he is in when he picks up a paintbrush or a pencil whatever memory thought sound word smell vision or anything in between is instantly documented in each piece he creates in attempts to capture them instantly before they would escape his consciousness which is made evident from one such instance when in the summer of 1994 he would find himself a flat granite stone on the beach upon picking it up to his amazement he would notice his colors becoming increasingly intense as his glacial veins would liquify into his hands using an old nail he would scratch decorative markings across the stone with no end goal in mind only the desire to draw when he would finish carving stone feeling content and satisfied he would toss the stone into the sea as far as he was concerned it had served his purpose reason behind his artwork is simply not part of the process returning to his honor painting we can see hastily applied brushstrokes of blues whites and reds with the word honor stenciled over it in orange would mention the importance of honor and how it applies to his everyday life explaining that the word is quite significant to him he constantly strives to live an honorable life and how honesty is very crucial to him he would fondly recount for saint crispin's day speech in shakespeare's play henry v in which king henry urges his outnumbered army on the eve of the battle of agincourt to imagine the glory immortality and honor that will be theirs if they are victorious [Music] so from here onwards following sarkin's first art show i'd like to start discussing his work on a bit of a wider scale instead of talking about a singular piece at a time like i normally do in my videos we'll take a look at some groups of work that fall into some really interesting categories because john has created thousands upon thousands of pieces of art at this stage it would be pretty underwhelming to just take a look at single examples of his portfolio so having said that one such group of works worth taking the gander at i was drawings and paintings on old discarded vinyl album covers now although it is practically futile to speculate the absolute definitive meaning in his drawings as we've already talked about there are always still plenty of elements that seem to pop out at you which as we'll see as we explore more of his work they open up fascinating doorways into jon's personality and character if you were to take a look at john sarkin's website and dive into his 12x12 album sleeve collection and archives there is a near endless sea of portraits abstracts stories drawings of buildings animals and scenery you practically don't know where to begin no matter what may prompt john's hand it makes its way into these 12 by 12 drawings the more you look through these you'll notice one significant technique that appears frequently in these which are these curious tiny lines daisy chained together to typically shade or colour in his imagery at times it's simple and comprehensive other times is intricate and hypnotizing such as in this piece i call green square where the grass and sky looks like it's breathing and morphing into psychedelic swirls this would be part of a group of his 12x12 drawings are found to be especially immersive which would be his comic drawings introducing many different stories and characters such as weird tales the adventures of cardboard man and detective comics just to name a few some feature words and nouns that repeat continuously across the drawings where others display full paragraphs of narrative another key feature of sarkin's creativity which neatly moves us onto our next category of his artwork [Music] what i've personally come to admire about sarkin is that often the image itself within a piece of his art is only a fraction of what makes up the entire imagery john is a tentative to every form of expression including that of writing he even regularly references music in his work which we'll explore in more detail as a video goes on when i first started emailing john he would send me a spontaneous email saying quote part of my art is these writings i'm compelled to pen this stuff matt you are my latest victim in case you didn't know that's my real first name if not then i guess this is a name reveal video now anyway back to the point here john would provide me with many emails of his spontaneous thoughts and inner monologues that would range from memories to fictional stories such a desire to write would therefore also be a very recurring theme in his visual arts there is a beautifully put together illustrated book by colin rhodes that gives an interesting observation on sarkin's technique with words for his drawings such as how sarkin would sometimes provide a narrative for his art such as the piece that rhodes refers to as the falcon will never learn my secret identity where what could almost be an excerpt from a detective dime novel can be seen in the painting to quote rhodes he says the sense of a stream of consciousness unfolding is strong with text meandering and dense blocks across the whole surface punctuated by illustrations and little arrows that seemingly assist the reader with directions it is still easy to get lost it is clear that different parts of the text were written at different times which reminds viewers of sarkin's habit of returning continually to works and enacting a process of layering that enriches and complicates the developing text and challenges teleology end quote there is also a very prominent characteristic in his art which is how he often blocks singular words and repeats single nouns in what rhodes would describe as a mantra like fashion for example sarkin's 2021 piece called coltrane would display in an abstract form the name of the jazz saxophonist written 128 times around the entire work his choice of a repeated word can also evolve as they multiply in his drawings this piece known as cli is probably the best known example as you'll notice the name of the artist monet to begin with which then becomes manet another historic painter then minuet miner moon and so on the characteristic continues below with the word mingus his apple drawing is also an interesting variation of john's fascination in words which not only displays the word apple numerous times but in different font styles and alternating between black and purple pen you may notice a phase as well when the word apple shifts to apply then aptly april and avril perhaps the evolution of words that repeat in his drawings is a reflection of sarkin's devotion to communicate each moment of a here and now which in turn captures each variation of a word he may have in his mind when drawing [Music] [Music] due to sarkin's technique in making art generally quite a physical process his art normally is done on foam boards as this material is better suited to survive for many layers of pen and crayon not to mention the incisions created from the pressure of his hand holding those pens or crayons though make no mistake that john is a multimedia artist in every sense of the term as he never limits himself on what materials or what kind of paint tools or indeed what kind of surfaces he uses such as the album covers that we've already seen to virtually any piece of scrap paper or cardboard that he can find once again a look through the archives on his website immediately reveals this with one in particular that stood out to me which is this circular portrait composed of thick swirls of blue crayon with the eyes and mouth provided by magazine cutouts as you can see the surfaces he chooses from the scrap materials he finds massively vary in size and shape further emphasizing john sarkin's immediacy when giving in to the urge to create and how structure is irrelevant he would comment on this for vanity fair as follows structure is counterproductive to what i do once i get to work i just make it up as i go along it's kind of like people who play free jazz they're just really good players but they don't know what they're going to play it takes great discipline to be unstructured and have your lack of structure be meaningful end quote [Music] some of the portraits that john sarkin creates expose a very different side to him compared to his other works more succinctly they reveal a very unique and almost methodical side to his technique although a great deal of his portraits are done in his recognizable cartoon style some of his portraits have complex shading intricate blends of color and noticeable depth perception such as this one known as bliss which just to remind everyone is not an official title i am fascinated when i get up close to the detail in this one his intense scratches of color that criss-cross over each other and the light smudges of paint blended together create this really otherworldly atmosphere john explains it was inspired by a renaissance painting of the virgin mary of course there are also plenty of other portraits that are entirely results of john's imagination such as this one composed of thick layers of aggressive crayon and pastel to quote john again from a discussion i had with him on his portraits quote a friend said i have no idea what a tree feels even though i can draw them pretty well but i do know what it's like to be a human so drawing a portrait is really different and i know much better what it feels like to be me so drawing a self-portrait is a very special case i hate to admit it because this portrait emotes mania but i think there might be some elements of self-portraiture oh well we all feel like this guy sometimes end quotes you may have caught a glimpse already but one notable figure that i've seen pop up more regularly in his portraits is that of a dc superhero batman in fact although he has illustrated other superheroes with spider-man being one example the whole persona of batman would appear time and time again throughout his whole art career in many different styles and media when i asked him if he was a big fan of batman he simply answered who isn't a fan of batman can you name a single person who doesn't like batman and i have to say he got me there john would also explain how he admires how instantly recognizable the character is how any slight essence of his character and persona is known worldwide he would also detail a key significance in batman's character that he admires quote i like the idea that what batman does is he takes negative energy of his fear of bats and transforms it into something different something good there's something resonant about dealing with your fears head on confronting your inner demons and rising above it and i just think batman is cool i like the car and great super villains end quotes [Music] within the sea of his repeated words in the vast majority of his art can be seen the names of many other instantly recognizable people when it's not batman it might be picasso when it's not picasso it might be jimi hendrix after getting to know john i've learned how so many people throughout history and media have had a direct influence and effect on him when asking him what he admires the most about each person he references in his work much like the tiny daisy chain lines and his drawings i started to notice a pattern each figure from picasso to hendrix each share one thing in common which is that they are all revolutionaries in their craft many agree that before hendricks came along no one else had ever played an electric guitar quite like him much like no one else had ever seen paintings quite like picassos until he entered the art world jon has tremendous respect and awe for people who provoke change and ignite something new something that encourages people out of their comfort zone to embrace something different monotony in a lot of ways is damaging to arts as well as its purpose but change helps it evolve which is why it's important to celebrate uniqueness rather than inhibit it i feel if there's one main takeaway from sarkin's influences is that he is someone with such admirable fascination in the world as well as other people although sarkin never consciously creates with any plan or vision in mind it is clear to see that his passion inspired by his heroes make their way into his drawings and paintings perhaps their craft and his appreciation for their craft is one of many things that motivates jon to pick up his art supplies for his next project [Music] the last year or so up until the time of me uploading this video has been quite substantial for john sarkin john's work is slowly but surely reaching more corners of the globe he has already appeared in many documentaries on various networks and has done a great deal of interviews at this point but this year he would be picked up by the renowned outsider art dealer and collector henry boxer of the henry boxer gallery in london who now officially represents jon and who would also kindly provide me with some rare images of his art that i used in this video also the book i mentioned earlier by colin rhodes was released earlier in march with a more extensive book by the same author currently in the works not to mention that pete townsend of the who would acquire a piece of his art what wholeheartedly comforts me though about john's growing success is that with each new piece of art the attention has drawn more focus towards his work rather than the story of his brain injury i had to detail the event myself for the sake of context in this video but more than anything both me and john agreed it was now time to talk about his art not an incident that occurred over 30 years ago i mean let's just put that into perspective for a second how often would you say you define yourself by a moment from that long ago it's very easy to get sucked into the awe and drama of jon's accidents and trust me in my ignorance i made the same mistake to begin with but john has well and truly moved on from his past embraces the person he is and if anything uses his obstacles to his own strength his art is his release as well as his distraction he acts on his sensations rather than tries to ignore them or suppress them resulting in each scratch brushstroke line word or phrase that could be found in his arts jon tells me there are at least over ten thousand pieces of his art that exist around the world with more on the way and i strongly urge you to start a new journey and explore his work one of the greatest things about his art is that to him in the grand scheme of things it means nothing but to others us the observers the window is left wide open to interpretation which is something that john would much rather hear than his own to me i discovered john's minds in his work his experiences his idols and his perceptions of a world around him a continuation of his own self but ultimately what you see instead is equally as true in the end his work gives up its mechanics uneasily john is a magician that proudly performs his magic tricks but safely guards his secrets allowing room for a world of possibilities for his growing audiences around the world thank you for watching this video i hope it's been of interest and like i said earlier i urge you to take a look at more of john sarkin's work if you like what you've seen in fact i've actually got a special offer for you all i've left a specialized link in the video description which will take you straight to john's website where you can not only see more of his artwork but the first 100 people to click the link can get a limited edition print of the first artwork of john's i discussed in the introduction at a whopping discounted price so please take a look and show yourself around before i go it's that time again for artist corner where i'll now quickly share some artwork by one of my viewers and today's featured artist is andreas erkin from oslo in norway andreas normally does pencil and digital drawings but one day decided to take another step in his creativity by painting the works that you see here now each teeming with haunting atmospheres and aggressive looking paint strokes i'm particularly fond of this piece with the imagery of an umbrella cascading raindrops below on the figure holding it the mood is instantly very macabre and perceptible in this if you'd like to see more paintings as well as some of his digital art please check out his instagram and make yourself at home just look up the username that you see here now or click on the link that i've left in the video description if you're an artist too and would like to potentially feature in one of my videos please send me an email to blinddweller gmail.com or give me a shout on twitter or instagram i'm also excited to add that i've recently launched a discord server called blind dweller's art club where you can share your art get some tips have some deep discussions share some spicy memes and all that good stuff in a growing friendly community i swing by every once in a while to say hi so it'd be great if you join and get involved as always a big thank you to my top tier channel members for this month chris collins fruit dookie blame b christopher watts port prayer classy chassis wendigo ken b and carol hartung that's all from me i'll see you in the next video soon and bye for now

Channel: Blind Dweller

Views: 122,367

Keywords: blind dweller, outsider art, surrealism, art for mental illness, underground art, reddit, explained, scary, analysis, iceberg, art explained, dark paintings, jon sarkin, experimental art, hospital art, brain injury, art documentary, jon sarkin documentary, breakdown

Id: oohuOTjfWK0

Length: 33min 51sec (2031 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2022