SONATORE
Who is SONATORE? If you ask him directly he’ll respond with Alex Red, Alex Sonatore, or Alex Cheng. Depending on who you ask, you might get different names from different people as well. The artist himself prefers to be called Alex or Sonatore or Red.
Though he prides himself a musician first and foremost, Alex is more known for his visual art and photography. Choosing to primarily create on analog mediums, the artists likes to build and create his own worlds. While respecting digital art, for the artist, it helps him make the constructed worlds feel more “real.”
Red’s work ranges from political, sexual, surrealist, fantasy, emotional, and street. Creating in one topic, style, or medium has never been something that appealed to the artist. His explanation of having multiple mediums and outlets of creativity is the work is made according to what feels most appropriate at the time.
Colors & Sounds: 3.5x4.2 in Shot on Polaroid OneStep2
The 4th of July: 4x4 in Shot on Polaroid Spectra Pro
Shrine of Heroes: 3.5x4.2 in Shot on Polaroid SLR680
Floating World: 11x14in Ink, pen, watercolor, and print collage on bristol board
Karen Throws a Fit in Public: 30x40in NYT front pages printed on smaller newsprint at home + pages from the bible and a hymn book collaged on a canvas. Drawn with oil pastel, ink, and sharpie.
I am from Nashville, TN. Growing up both gay and Asian in a conservative background meant years of trying to suppress major parts of my identity. As an adult artist I’m trying to embrace those parts of myself within my work, as well as deconstruct my internalized racism and homophobia.I’ve been making art and involved in music my entire life, but I didn’t get serious about music till my teens and visual art until my 20s. Art and photography have given me a place to communicate emotions and ideas in a way that I might be afraid to otherwise. Recently with the ongoing protests, both help me express and frame emotions and events I’m not sure how to communicate. Both also help express the chaos in my head, as well as create my own worlds and mythologies.Through art I feel more bold and fearless. I have a voice that I can scream out into the world and know that it’s been heard.