Born in New York,
Todd Schorr spent his childhood in Oakland, New Jersey. There he immersed himself in the world of cartoons and comics. These interests developed with an artistic talent fostered early on by Saturday morning classes. In 1972, Schorr entered the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), where on an instructors suggestion he moved from painting to illustration.
After leaving school, Schorr worked as a professional illustrator in New York City. He provided work for AC/DC albums, movie posters for George Lucas, and covers for
TIME Magazine. By 1985 Schorr was becoming disillusioned with corporate assignment and made a concerted effort to move towards gallery walls. An invitation to exhibit in “American Pop Culture Images Today” at Tokyo’s Laforet Museum would prove a sound launching board.
In 1992 Schorr mounted his first solo exhibition and severed all ties to illustration and become a full time professional painter. His work has since been lauded as a major component of the “Lowbrow” art movement, centering around Los Angeles, where he moved in 1998. Since then he has continued to hone his uniquely American surreal style.
On June 20, the San Jose Museum of Art will open
Todd Schorr: American Surreal, the artist’s firs mid-career retrospective. Accompanied by a new book, the exhibition will situate Schorr among his contemporaries in the “Pop Surrealist” movement and celebrate his highly polished realism.
Ahead of the opening, Schorr took some time out to discuss his career, interests, and work.
