Anna Sorokin: Subject of Netflix’s Inventing Anna set to launch first solo exhibition in New York
Anna Sorokin, the subject of Netflix’s Inventing Anna, is set to launch her first solo exhibition in New York on Thursday 19 May.
The hit series fictionalised the case of socialite scammer Sorokin, who masqueraded as a wealthy heiress named Anna Delvey. She was eventually sent to prison for grand larceny.
Held at the Public Hotel, the exhibition will consist of the sketches she created while in detention.
“This is a collection of sketches I’ve created while in ICE Orange County detention,” Sorokin told Page Sixof her new collection. “I wanted to capture some of the moments of the past years, both never-seen-before and iconic, using the limited tools I have at my disposal.
“Some of the pieces are straightforward, others are more abstract and will be unique in meaning and appearance to the observer.”
Sorokin also told the outlet that she studied “fashion illustration at Parsons in Paris, but haven’t sketched since and only again now in this upstate NY prison”.
“You’ve heard so many voices already, but this is the beginning of me telling my story, my narrative, from my perspective,” she added.
Sorokin’s art sales representative Chris Martine revealed that the new exhibition will contain 20 of the fake German heiress’s new works.
“It wasn’t easy getting anything in or out,” he said. “Most of the art materials and paper was declined/confiscated. The only materials we got in were some coloured pencils and 9 x 12 watercolour paper. She relied heavily on her jail pens and pencils which are essentially dull rubber writing instruments.”
Anna Delvey was the pseudonym used by Sorokin, who moved to New York in 2013.
Under the fake name, Sorokin pretended to be a wealthy German heiress in order to establish herself in New York’s social scene.
She used the name until 2017, when the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office began investigating her for instances of bank fraud.
Sorokin attempted to pitch an idea for an “Anna Delvey Foundation” to wealthy potential investors.
The idea encompassed a private members’ club and art foundation, which involved leasing the Church Missions House – a historic building in Manhattan – as a multi-purpose events venue and art studio.
She also befriended rich socialites and would ask them to pay for hotels, flights, and lavish meals on the premise she would pay them back, but would later “forget” to do so.
