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Theatrical Realism: The Art of Inez Storer

Sept. 27–Dec. 7, 2003

link to larger-format image The Conjurer, 2002, oil and mixed media on panel, 36 x 48 in. Courtesy of Catharine Clark Gallery and the artist link to larger-format image Silences, 1995, oil and mixed media on canvas with original retablo, 60 x 48 in. Courtesy of Catharine Clark Gallery and the artist link to larger-format image Experiment, 2000, oil on panel, 36 x 24 in., Collection of Robin Critelli and Stephen Berg

This landmark exhibition will be the first retrospective featuring the work of nationally recognized painter and printmaker Inez Storer. For over four decades, Inverness-based Storer has pursued her own uniquely personal and idiosyncratic style of figuration, despite periods in which abstraction remained the prevalent avant-garde style. Storer’s delightfully accessible works are both formally satisfying and rich in content, addressing universal themes of identity, spirituality, imagination, and history. This exhibition will feature approximately 40 paintings produced from 1960 to the present, as well as examples of Storer’s prints, artist books, and assemblages.

Storer’s dream-like paintings posess a charming naïveté that belies the complexity of their production. Storer says that she is “fascinated by process,” and her work often incorporates collage elements and found objects layered atop painted images and text. Because of this, her work makes reference to the long-standing California Bay Area funk tradition of collage and assemblage. Uniquely, Storer’s works directly reflect her commitment to painting—she is often referred to as a “painter’s painter” for her interest in densely layered surfaces and rich color.

Personal narrative figures prominently in Inez Storer’s paintings, prints, and installations. She describes her own aesthetic process as a method of uncovering buried histories. One of the most important of these histories for Storer’s work is her Jewish identity. Storer was raised as a Catholic, and the details of her German-Jewish past were not revealed to her until her mother was dying. As a result of her unique upbringing, iconography from both religious traditions often coexist within Storer’s work. References to Russian folk art within her works allude to the influence of her husband, Russian artist Andrew Romanov, who is a grand nephew of a Russian czar. In addition, Storer’s paintings often depict narratives that unfold against the allusion of a theatrical backdrop—a direct reference to her father, who was an aviator and later an art director for Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

Theatrical Realism will be accompanied by a full-color, paper bound catalogue with essays by nationally recognized writer and critic Bill Berkson, Santa Clara University Assistant Professor of Art History Andrea Pappas, de Saisset Museum Curator of Exhibits and Collections Karen Kienzle, and Cathy Kimball, Executive Director of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. This publication will be available for purchase at the de Saisset for $15. Also available during the run of the exhibition will be several limited-edition prints produced by the artist on the occasion of the exhibition. For more information, please call 408-554-4528

A special collaboration

As a complement to Theatrical Realism, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art will be presenting an exhibition focused on Inez Storer’s legacy — featuring the work of contemporary artists Storer has influenced through her many years as a teacher and mentor. This exhibition, entitled An Artist’s Artist: The Legacy of Inez Storer will be on view from Nov. 8, 2003–Jan. 3, 2004. In addition, concurrent with the retrospective, the Gallery at Villa Montalvo will be featuring an exhibition of Storer’s most recent work. Entitled Inez Storer: Encore Narratives, this exhibition will be on view from Nov. 9, 2003–Jan. 17, 2004.