Biography from AskART:
| From Inverness, California, north of San Francisco and working from a
studio in Point Reyes, Inez Storer creates mixed-media narrative
paintings, collages and assemblages in naive-sophisticated style, which
she describes as Magic Realism: "I am a visual raconteur. I
use paint to tell stories." Most of these stories are
explorations of the human condition with characters who seem
allegorically to be walking tightropes. She gets many ideas from
her studio collection of old postcards, toys, photos and other random
items that she often incorporates into her work. Inez Storer is
also known for her prints and drawings.
She was born in Los Angeles to German parents who left that country in
1933 to avoid Hitler. Her father got a job in Hollywood with
Billy Wilder as an art director, and her mother was an actress and
dancer. Inez spent much time as a child on movie sets. She
was raised a Catholic as her parents wanted no one to know her mother
was Jewish, but Inez was rebellious and was constantly in trouble with
the school authorities. However, in her artwork, she uses
Catholic imagery such as angels, saints and crosses. Also in her
work are themes referencing her mother and others of Jewish faith who
hid their heritage out of fear of being ostracized.
Inez Storer studied at the San Francisco College for Women, the San
Francisco Art Institute and the University of California at
Berkeley. In the 1950s, she lived in North Beach and hung around
the Beatnik scene. She married her first husband in 1960, and had
four children but, even with many distractions, kept painting.
She was divorced and took a bachelor's degree at Dominican College in
San Rafael and in 1971, a graduate degree in at California State
University in San Francisco. She also taught art and made
assemblages and collages.
In 1974, she met Andrew Romanoff, a Russian artist who became her
husband. In this marriage, she became a part of Russian royalty
because Andrew was the grand nephew of the Czar Nicholas II, Russia's
last emperor who, along with his family, was executed. Because of
this new dimension to her life, Storer's artwork embodies Russian
political themes as well as other political, religious, and personal
expressions.
Source:
Bonnie Gangelhoff, "True Stories", Southwest Art, July 2006, p. 143-147
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