Inside Out
Unraveling Reuben Sorensen’s strange vision of the world
(Dec. 13, 2007) Figuring out what Reuben Sorensen’s paintings mean is almost as hard as figuring out how to get to his house.
I’m counting the number of bridges I’ve driven over since I turned off the asphalt road that leads west from Redway through Briceland. My compact Japanese car is way out of its element. It’s raining and the washboard dirt roads are slick. With every hairpin turn, I worry I’ll end up stuck in a deep rut washed out by last night’s storm. So far, so good.
I’ve driven miles into the forest already and I haven’t passed another car yet. I glance down at the gas gauge. Three quarters full. That’s good. I wonder, though, if the car’s tires can handle all the rocks.
I pass an abandoned school bus riddled with bullet holes. The few houses I’ve passed so far seemed uninhabited too. There was a moss-covered tricycle a while back. If I disappeared out here, no one would come looking for me until well into next week. What have I gotten myself into? I wonder aloud. And all for the sake of … art?
Then finally, after miles of snail-paced, tedious driving deeper into these sylvan boondocks, a handful of nameless bridges, a power box, where I turned left at the fork, and a large silver water tank, I find what I’m looking for. A green, hand-painted sign hanging from a tree trunk announces, “Freeway Entrance.”
Cars, headless basketball players,caged gorillas, children’s alphabet blocks and hieroglyphs are just some of the elements that make up Reuben Sorensen’s strange vision of the world.
Sorensen’s asceticism and remoteness are what first piqued my interest in him. A couple of months ago I read about a reclusive self-taught artist making paintings, the likes of which I’d never seen before, in the backwoods of southern Humboldt County, and I wanted to know if he was really the outsider artist others claimed he was.
Pulling my car off to the side of the dirt road just in front of the surreal “Freeway Entrance” sign, I stepped out and stretched my limbs. The forest was eerily silent. Then a gruff voice startled me from the trees below.
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on the cover
Railroad!
Proposed lines ‘set rich blood a-tingling’ in early 1900s
Some Other Proposed North Coast Railroads
Choo-choo Fantasies
Exposing this east-west rail nonsense
seven-o-heaven
Undeterred Will
Will chides Andrew for lack of attention to detail and makes plans for his inevitable victory.
Recent on the cover
May 17
Ring of Fire
Sun and moon will perform a rare pas de deux in Humboldt skies on Sunday
May 10
District Soup
Racing for the top county seat in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts
May 3
A Place in the Woods
As park closure deadline nears, a scramble to save what we can
Today
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Flow 2012 Fashion Show
STAFF PICK / events / 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Student designed and produced clothing. Fundraiser for Arcata Arts Institute. $35/$25 students. artsinstitute.net. 822-1220.
Woodside Preschool's Rummage/Bake Sale
events / 8 a.m.-noon. Woodside Preschool, 900 Hodgson St, Eureka. www.woodsidepreschool.com. 445-9132.
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
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