Tauranga Art Gallery - Toi Tauranga

All may not be what it seems: the art of Jill Sorensen - 30 Apr 2010

Animal-like figures with human features that draw from the subconscious mind, and have been drawn using the left hand, form the basis of an upcoming exhibition by Jill Sorensen at Tauranga Art Gallery.

Sorensen’s Of Course I Meant It When I Said I Didn’t Mean It opens on Saturday 1 May.

Drawing is central to Sorensen’s work. Naturally right-handed, she uses her left hand to draw from her imagination without conscious thought, a form of ‘automatic’ drawing. Sorensen then uses her right hand, or the thinking side of her brain, to reposition and adjust her drawings.

Sorensen’s figures are a combination of pony or rabbit type figures often with human features, in which she expresses the idea that things are not always as they seem. Through her complex characters, Sorensen explores the concept of cheating and lying, and in particular, how this manifests in celebrity culture.

Even the title of the exhibition suggests a twist of the truth.

As Sorensen states, open any women’s magazines and we are confronted with pages of fake smiles on the perfectly made-up faces of celebrities. The smiles look so real, even though they are false, that the celebrities and all they stand for become objects of desire.

Sorensen imposes these celebrities’ features, such as their eyes and mouths, onto her characters to highlight their lives of duplicity and game playing.

“On the surface, this exhibition might look as if it’s all about fun, but there’s a deeper, almost sinister level, underlying Sorensen’s work,” says Gallery Manager, Penelope Jackson.

Jill Sorensen works as a full time artist and as a tutor at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in Auckland. She has been nominated as a finalist in major New Zealand art awards such as the James Wallace Art Awards, Telecom Art Awards, Waikato Art Awards and the Norsewear New Zealand Contemporary Art Awards.

Sorensen will hold a floortalk on her work, at 1pm, Saturday 22 May. Entry by gold coin donation.

Of Course I Meant It When I Said I Didn’t Mean It can be viewed in the Cube at Tauranga Art Gallery until 27 June.