Jim Torok
	Everything Is Great! 18 March - 18 April, 2005       If You Want To Be A Successful Artist, 2004 Ink on paper 21.5 x 30.5 inches Sold             Artists Are Great, 2004 Ink on paper 22 x 29.25 inches Sold           This Is A Major Work, 2004 Acrylic on panel 46 x 61 inches Sold             I Don't Know What I'm Doing, 2004 Acrylic on panel 46 x 61 inches           Artists Must Compete, 2005 Ink on paper 22.5 x 30 inches             A Day In the Life of the Artist, 2005 Ink on paper 22.5 x 30.25 inches           The Critics, 2004 Ink on paper 22 x 30.75 inches           Questions for God, 2004 Ink on paper 22.5 x 30 inches             Sometimes I Think Bad Things, 2004 Ink on paper 22 1/2 x 28 3/8 inches           Everyone Wants Wealth and Fame , 2004 Ink on paper 22.5 x 30 inches             TV, What Was On 11/6/4, 2004 Ink on paper 22.5 x 3.25 inches   Press Release Jim Torok's cartoon narratives are simultaneously hilarious and sobering. They are also at once innocently optimistic and cynical. This combination is what makes them incredibly honest and richly satisfying. This exhibition will feature Torok's cartoon works. I remember things in story form, so [the cartoon narratives] seemed like a natural way for that part of me to come out. It was a melding of visual memory with memory in terms of a story….which is why they look the way they do. When you draw something from memory it looks different than if it’s drawn from life or from a photograph. (Jim Torok, 2005) Torok keeps his technique as spontaneous as possible in order to get to the essence of things. He notes, …[A]ll of the editing is done on the fly. …I'll start with the title…then I'll think, what is this about? Then I do the first drawing. I have no idea what the next drawing will be, let alone how it will end. I just do the first panel and then the next one…until it’s finished. That’s how I find out what it’s about. I never plan it in advance. It’s like a part of the brain being freed up to just go. …It’s a way of not being too self-conscious. (Torok)
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	P   I   E   R   O   G   I     2   0   0   0 177 north 9th street brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.2144 noon to 6p friday through monday and by appointment pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york