By the 1980s, shadowy, nearly subliminal figures began to hover behind Sorenson's complexly interwoven zig-zag compositions. At first the new configurations were geometric shapes— spirals, parallelograms and the like. But soon the artist began making references to his favorite periods in art history, beginning with a painting in homage to Matisse's Moroccans. His next move was back in time to ancient Greek gods and goddesses— Apollo, Jupiter, Nike and Venus, for example. These figures quickly asserted themselves in the foreground, relegating the abstract zig-zag patterns to symbolic background elements, enframed by shaped canvas in the form of Greek temples, with a pediment and two columns built in to their framing structures. Thus in this series of paintings, the Greek iconography enabled the artist to integrate both his interest in geometry and the human figure.

 

 

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Untitled, 1981, 90" x 78" acrylic on canvas	Untitled #2-281, 1981, 90" x 78"
Untitled #2-481, 1981, 40" x 40"	Untitled, 1981, 90" x 78"
Untitled, 1981	sculpture, 1981
sculpture, 1981	sculpture, 1981