GLOUCESTER, Mass. — A local art gallery reopened this weekend—to celebrate the work of Jon Sarkin. For thirty years, he created thousands of pieces of art in Gloucester, selling his work to celebrities and having them featured in museums across the world—all while battling disabilities due a stroke.
Definitely a common figure in Jon’s works," said Mark Henderson, Director of Fish City Studios, as he pointed out details in Jon Sarkin’s work.
Thousands of drawings and paintings from the late Jon Sarkin are tucked inside Fish City Studios on Main Street in Gloucester. Jon Sarkin was an outsider artist with a very unique and distinctive style.
“It’s meant to be a reflection of how he’s feeling,” said Henderson as he showed a drawing.
Jon was a chiropractor, but complications from a neurosurgery led to a stroke. Doctors had to remove part of his cerebellum, leaving him physically disabled and a little off balance.
“So he walked with a cane and every chance he got he would sit down and just draw because I think it was a respite from that,” said Henderson. “I think it was therapeutic for him to do that, sort of alleviated the sea sickness he called it.”
Henderson was a friend and business manager of Jon and is now the director of the gallery where Jon created his work.
“He’s got thousands of pieces, you know, and I look at them all the time and I still find new stuff,” said Henderson.
From the words to the crosshatching, Jon fixated on intricate details.
“And it’s almost like somebody’s learning how to slowly focus that brain laser over all those years and get it to a place where it’s creating some really interesting stuff,” said Henderson.
Jon also used certain motifs—like a cactus representing its resiliency in a harsh environment and Batman for his strength.
“This is another piece that a museum might be interested in,” Henderson said as he turned through pages of Jon’s art.
And his work is recognized all over the world in museums in Paris in London—and purchased by celebrities.
“A lot of people say I could do this, and then I say ok, go ahead, sit down and give it a shot and I don’t think anybody really can,” said Henderson
Jon’s story was featured in a book, magazines, and even his own drawing of his brain. But in the space where Jon created—and even passed away in—Henderson hopes the gallery will change the narrative from stroke victim turned artist to renowned artist who just happened to have a stroke.
“I don’t think he ever fully came to terms with what happened to him,” said Henderson. “I don’t think anybody could really. But I think what you’re seeing on the page is definitely part of that process of reckoning with his fate.”
The gallery reopening is right at the beginning of stroke awareness month. It will be open weekday afternoons and it will not only feature Jon’s work—but other artists who are working to get recognized.
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