1:17 p.m., Sept. 5, 2007--“There is a force in nature/life that encourages creation. It is the by-product of energy transformation.”

The writer is Norman Sasowsky, professor emeritus of art, who has been energetically creating art as a painter for more than 50 years. Although he is not primarily a portrait painter--“My usual subjects are the human figure and sometimes landscapes,” he said--one of the outcomes of his artistic life is a series of self-portraits starting in high school, continuing during his years at the Art Student's League and evolving into later portraits of himself during his journey through life.

Sasowsky also has painted portraits of others, many of whom were associated with UD, including Fleda Brown, poet laureate of Delaware and former professor of English.

With modern technology, new possibilities to develop his work opened up, Sasowsky said, and he published a series of “Artist's Books,” including one with Brown, which are in Special Collections in the Morris Library. His first Artist's Book was on exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum, accompanied by a video made by his son Peter, AS '85, which is now housed in the Media Center of the Morris Library.

This year, as part of the series, he assembled the self-portraits into a book titled Random Thoughts, adding text, based on his thoughts about life and what he has discovered about himself during his development as an artist. The cover itself is a montage of parts of the self-portraits, which, in turn, becomes an abstract portrait of the younger and older Sasowsky.

Sasowsky also has an interest is filmmaking, which he taught at UD early in his career. After publishing Artist's Books, Sasowsky decided to turn his hand at making a video based on Random Thoughts, which would be available to a much larger audience through YouTube. The video features the self-portraits with a running commentary and background music. More than 400 persons have visited the site to see his video, which can be accessed at [www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTUv75R4J4Q].

Some of the self-portraits are realistic while others are more abstract. While painting the portraits, Sasowsky has experimented with different techniques, emulating the styles of other artists from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Some of his latest self-portraits reflect his interest in modern, abstract art, such as the last one he painted where he appears as an ethereal figure gazing into the future while blending into the background of life.

“I didn't know what was going to evolve myself when I painted these portraits. My painting in general has always depended upon imagination and memory, and my later portraits show this,” he said.

Creating videos has opened up new vistas for him, Sasowsky said. His two newest video projects posted on YouTube are “Pygmalion--The Artist's Story” and “The Model."

Article by Sue Moncure
Graphics courtesy of Norman Sasowsky