Artist in a Fishbowl: Chad Sorg
Chad Sorg is not a fish. He could be, but to my knowledge, he’s as simian as the rest of us. Which is okay, because I’ve seen what happens when fish and paint meet. That however, is a different artist story.
Chad Sorg is someone whom I’ve been getting to know recently. Not for lack of contact, because I’ve brushed elbows with the guy at least a dozen or more times in the last couple of years. He’s part of the Nada Dada events like the “Nada Motel,” that takes place every June at the El Cortez Hotel. Quite an event if you haven’t gone.
Regardless, Chad is selling his art. Which is a good thing, because his art is excellent, reasonably priced, and all of us need to make a living. Making art is time-consuming and can be expensive through materials and workspace.
I’ve always said, “Art: Bridging the Gap Between Rich And Poor.” And this is true. It actually is a perfect symbiosis, and has been this way for a long time in human history. The scribe, the painter, the sculptor…
…this might lead you to believe Chad is selling his art for disgusting amounts of money. This isn’t the case. Considering the quality, robustness and personality his artwork has, it’s a real “bang for your buck,” in an art-collector’s sense.
Reno is not “ArTown.” I actually dislike a lot of aspects of that whole… “ArTown,” thing. It’s usually limited to a who’s who of artists, gigantic sheep-like crowds crawling from one wine vendor to the next, and it becomes an expensive kitsch fest or some pseudo-educational family gathering. None of which, if you ask me, is a really good place to go see artwork. This is why the Nevada Museum of Art is a quiet, well-lit place of wandering rather than a central gathering for a lot of people, and why there isn’t an obligatory playground on every floor. If mass gatherings, wine and “festival surroundings,” were great places to see art, museums would probably change their general operations.
Reno is an “art town,” however. There are a LOT of artists here. That is part of the reason why I’ve been critical of ArTown as an event, because it is a small cross-section of what this town is capable of. Reno is not solely a hand-picked place of art, with pleasant guitar music, $10,000 six-foot abstracts and expressive dance troupes. There’s people making art out of garbage, music with $60 guitars and old trumpets, and dance performed by men, resembling women, that they themselves become art– called drag.
God Hates Reno likes the gritty, unheard-of artists out there, because for the price of tolerating generic maws of people and herding along like wine-thirsty cows, you can get other kinds of art elsewhere.
Enter Chad Sorg. He may not see art in this town the way I do, because he’s a businessman as much as he’s an artist, and I have some pretty critical personal views that I alone have for this town. Which is okay, because this creates discussion and thought. Chad Sorg is here to make art, and to make a living. Well-spoken and wonderfully charming, he’s not your typical artist. Many people think of artists as spacey, strange, off-key, and Chad Sorg could be your lawyer, your banker or your boss. He’s a curious, calm and intelligent man. The most remarkable thing about him, as anyone new or old to his existence might tell you, the guy is a constant stream of inspiration. He’s always doing something. Always seeming to invent, reinvent, and re-reinvent.
So here he is, selling his art. He kind of has to, because he has a lot of it. Down in the west wing of the Bank of America building downtown on the ground level, there he is, just as he says… in a fishbowl. Street-level views from inside a vast, vacant bank, his work sprawls sparsely across a seemingly corporate landscape. I can’t think of a better way for someone like him to show off his work. From the entry to the back bank vault, there are mostly paintings and a few pieces of sculpture. He doesn’t give away his art for free…
…actually, that’s not accurate, either. http://www.freesorgs.org/…
…but his prices are reasonable to anyone wanting pictures. Speaking of Free Sorgs, I even saw the back room where the pieces are kept. He has his own rules and regulations on how someone can get a piece of Sorg for free. It really isn’t free, per-se, but it might not involve money. From what I understand, those willing to go through the trouble to want a piece of art they will love kind of “prove,” themselves worthy for having art that not only they will love, but the artist continues to love as well.
An artist that loves his own work isn’t self-absorbed. I’ve seen the pale, skinny artist that scoffs at his own work for the sake of its own deprecation. I guess “attitude,” is part of the sale, something about buying a piece of the artist, blah blah blah. This isn’t an art appreciation class.
How I appreciate art is how the artist clearly remembers each piece, each song, each moment in creating them. There’s a story and an idea behind them. Sure, you might have a different take on it, that’s okay too, but when it comes down to it, it’s about love. You have to love the art, as an artist and a collector. Chad Sorg likes his buyers and recipients of Free Sorgs to do just this. That is proper art justice.
Chad Sorg is a man about town, so feel free to contact him in myriad ways if you would like to talk with him further:
http://www.facebook.com/chad.sorg
http://www.artreview.com/profile/chadsorg
http://www.myspace.com/nadamotel
http://nadamotel.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/nadasorg
…or swing by the ground level of the B of A building downtown (that’s 50 W Liberty Street to the laymen), he’s been there hangin’ out as of late. Unless he tells me otherwise, he’s been there Monday through Friday.
GR
September 20th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Isn’t DaDa Motel just the mirror image of ArTown? It’s the “Too hip for ArTown and we hate Hot August nights, Rib Cookoff, Street Vibrations” crowd? The same band of poseurs who will rail against Barry Manilow/Neal Diamond until Lou Reed starts covering him?
just another load of pretentious poseurs. Ain’t we all?
September 20th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Hank, you’re a genius. You’re so informed.
September 20th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Hank, I’m all for some good old fashioned trash talking when appropriate, but seriously? Get a clue. Jill Marlene, for example, performed and was a major contributor at NadaDada and volunteered at Hot August Nights for the VW show, I think she also sang the national anthem at the baloon races. Sorg painted the mural on Victorian where the Rib cook off is, wasn’t he also on some sort of local arts council too? I dont feel like listing off another 20 examples. All Im saying is that these are a very diverse, interesting, powerful, creative, fun, open group of people. You should go somewhere and see what it is and who’s there before you hate. These folks are far from pretentious…
September 20th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Yeah, Hank. You and your low falootin’ “I’m a real artist” blabbety blah. Pfft. So what is cool? What would a vibrant art scene look like? In Reno? Reno’s doing pretty OK considering that it’s Reno. I think you should look up the French word for shower, then tattoo it on your ass.
September 20th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Chad Sorg IS ” nada dada motel”, just your basic gem of an original Art expression event, in the tacky little town of Reno Nevada, and who attends this event is none of anybody’s judgmental business . Any event that brings folks to see the collections of the Truckee Meadows wears, is cool. To critique an event , learn to spell it’s name first, then insert foot ….. what’s the problem with Neal Diamond?
September 20th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Since I don’t live in Reno, I can’t comment on the ArtTown vs. NadaDada Hotel…. BUT I can say that Chad, Dianna, Jill and everyone else were so open and accepting of an out of town artist, and so different from other arts communities that I’ve known, I had to participate again. Perhaps looking at the larger picture would help you a little. In terms of cultural tourism, the more arts festivals the better in any city!
September 20th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I want to hear about when fish and paint meet.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:08 am
I can vouch for the fact that I despise Hot August Nightmare and the like, and that I adore Nada Motel. Nada provides a venue for art that maybe has no other place, like the room within a room, or the other “installation” type pieces. Some artists work is just not mainstream enough for ArTown, and Nada exists as a haven for those fringe folks. But pretentious? Did you see the Vomitorium? Come on…. Nada serves to illustrate that there is a vital community spirit in Reno that exists apart from the Casino culture and can’t be regulated by city planning authorities.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Oh that Hank, always stirrin’ up the pot.
GR
September 25th, 2009 at 3:58 am
baaaallllllllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
September 25th, 2009 at 3:59 am
baaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
September 25th, 2009 at 4:01 am
baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
September 25th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Set your Wayback machines to the beginning of all this: Artown bashing. Now, as Oblio in yet another Pointless Forest, I must belabor the obvious. It’s easy to bash any event. That said, if y’all don’t think there’s an “in crowd” any Nadadada or any other event/art pocket, than I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Worked with a visual artist during what I think was the first Dada Motel. Nice energy. Worked with Artown in 2005. Nice energy. Love to work alone. Nice energy.
So, dear Queen Gertrudes, be mindful of “protesth”ing another’s protestations. Stupid freedom of expression!
Luv and AA-12s
Hank -
September 27th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
ARtown bashing? Again, Hank, you’re so incredibly knowledgeable. Seems like a weird statement to sum up a whole yearly event tho. Especially stange to hear since many, if not most, of the artists in our event have also participate in that one as well.
But if this is whining about you not being in the “in” crowd, well, can’t help ya there Hank… (time for a wardrobe change?)
But on a serious note, NadaDada is every man for himself and if someone likes Dick Cheney, so be it, hates Artown, so be it. The only overriding factor is that there is NoONE in charge, anarchy, meaning no hierarchy, also known as a “do-ocracy”. We’re an alternative to state funded, tax payer supported organized events.
We are artists, we speak our minds and do as we please, whether you like it or not. Get a room, make a show..period.
September 27th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
as far as supporting our local community, I must say this because I’m extremely proud of this fact.. not only is there no one drawing a salary from tax payers: the NEA, NAC, RSCVA, or the City of Reno, what-so-ever, there is no chosen ad agency to reap financial gain from a non-profit endeavor or any time/money/energy wasted on paperwork and forms.. not only all of those benefits does this do-it-yodammself event boast, but we also BRING IN profits for all surrounding small businesses and service providers.
It’s a financial fact that this event is no burden to anyone from any perspective, i.e. our shit don’t stink.
Neil Diamond is awesome.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
…no one seems to mention that it’s quite remarkable to not only to have a “mainstream,” art scene in Reno, but a burgeoning underground as well? For 400,000+ people? Not bad.
One thing I both love and loathe about surrounding myself with “artists,’ (et al) are the little passionate ideals and tiffs they go through. I think it’s safe to shoebox it all into “passion.” Not to mention, if artists all got along, imagine how bored we’d all get with the products.
Gross.
KW
October 16th, 2009 at 10:26 am
oh my goodness. this is hilarious. hank sounds a bit like a wank to me. hank=wank. hank apparently has not been to nada dada. but he’s right, we’re all free to express ourselves, informed or not. plus, chad getting all revved up is adorable! chad, we all love you, reference the great (and well written) article above. i like this gay rodeo guy, he’s funny and perceptive. chad, i want a piece of your art. why do all my best friends have your art on their walls, and i don’t?! waaaahhhh…..
October 16th, 2009 at 10:31 am
…I’ve been trying to get a *cough* piece of Chad’s “art,” for a while now… Hubba.
GR