Joe Somers

Media: Acrylic

From his first art studio in a modest storefront building on the border of Beverly Hills, California, artist Joseph Somers, then 60 years of age, looked back on his long life, spanning from his childhood spent as an orphan on a farm for homeless children in upstate New York, entry into the Army at the age of 16, near the end of World War II, his subsequent 15-year religious vocation, followed by a 40-year career in the medical field, and he realized it was now time to develop a method of capturing his life’s both beautiful and cherished images by prominently placing them upon a three-dimensional visual pedestal to be enjoyed and experienced on a daily basis.

     Always fascinated by the artists of deception, such as Escher, Dali, and Gonsalves, Mr. Somers also wanted to incorporate the illusion of movement into those widely loved scenic images, the memories of which are so often obscured by the routine of everday life. 

     Before opening that first art studio in 1989, Joseph Somers’ long and unusual life had taken him on travels throughout the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and the Middle East, leaving him with a vast array of stunningly beautiful visual memories to draw upon. Somers’ re-creation of his images onto this unique, three-dimensional, lightweight canvas, which he developed for ease of mobility and display, has made it possible to bring these “windows to the world” into every room in the home.

Also known as a wizard of odd furniture, Somers actually began his art career by creating off-beat designs, such as eccentric chairs with wiggly squiggly legs and twisted branch-like stems, chairs that sprouthands and tables with human legs wearing high-heeled boots.  His Luggageture line of custom-built dresser drawers painted to look like suitcases, steamer trunks and giftboxes is also rapidly gaining in popularity.

     In many respects, Somers’ work picks up where pop art left off.  This artist brings to the art world an open-minded, uninhibited style that results from his beginnings as an outside artist, unlimited by the constraints of a formally structured background.

In this showing of the currently displayed, third-dimensional “windows to the world,” with their illusion of movement, you are viewing an art form that is now being enjoyed by art enthusiasts and collectors from all walks of life who simply want to enjoy some of life’s most pleasant sights through their own “moving windows.”

Central Square Fine Arts Gallery, #10 Central Square/New Road, Linwood NJ, 08221