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Norman Korpi was born in
Wakefield, Michigan in 1967. He
began painting at the age of 10 and by13 he had formed a mural painting company
in his hometown of Williamston, Michigan.
The murals were painted on the exterior walls of local businesses in the
downtown area and reflected the surrounding mid-western landscape. By the time he finished his ninth
mural, area artists were encouraging him to attend a specialized high school
for the arts. Norman applied and
was accepted to Interlochen Arts Academy where he received intensive formal
training in painting, photography and sculpture. In 1985, Norman become a Presidential Scholar in the Arts
and was flown to Miami, Florida where the National Endowment of the Arts
honored him. Upon graduation from
Interlochen, one of Norman’s series of sculptures, made from locally felled
trees, was purchased and is now part of the permanent collection of the Grand
Traverse Center for the Performing Arts. In 1985, Norman received a full
tuition scholarship to Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New
York to study photography, filmmaking and painting.
In 1988, Norman received a
fellowship to study at Yale's Norfolk program and spent the summer working on
equations between architecture and landscape. His paintings have been collected
consistently over the years and his work can be seen on public display from
Fortune 500 companies to public institutions and private collections across the
country. Bleecker 56, Whitehall
Gallery, Barbara Bratthen Gallery, Rempire and the Paul Bridgewater Gallery in
New York’s Soho district have represented Norman over the years.
In 1992, Norman, Kim Baker and
Bruce Winter developed a design firm called Gouda (named after Norman and Kim’s
Great Dane) that created outerwear clothing, furniture, product design and
books. The outerwear line of jackets called “State to State” was featured on
the covers of both the Bloomingdale’s catalogue and the Sharper Image catalogue
and was also sold in all major department stores. The jackets themselves could be seen on people from First
Lady Barbara Bush and Miss America to rapper Yo- Yo. After 18 years Gouda is
proudly currently designing for the Guggenheim Museum, the ICA Museum in Boston,
and The Pierpont Morgan Collection in New York and has also created a private
label for the Chess King called ROIX and licenses designs to Perry Ellis. In
May of 1992, Norman was selected as one of the cast members on MTV's The Real
World, which has since become a groundbreaking television show. Norman and six
other cast members were followed with video cameras, which aired their daily
lives onto a generation- x soap opera on MTV. The Real World become a world
phenomena spinning off other seasons, books and merchandise and is “ the first
family of generation –x” quotes the New York Times.
In 1993, Norman worked with an
ad agency called Aviso to create a series of commercials for Cheve- Geo
Trackers, Storm and Metro.
Furthering his interest in television, Norman began pitching television
shows and reality based concepts. A year after being introduced to former
Cooper Union graduate, Marvin Schwam he became one of the founders of Gay
Entertainment Television. Being the first openly gay man on commercial
television, Norman, was part of a national revolution helping to bring quality
television and respect to the gay community and beyond. He was also
instrumental in bringing companies like Miller Beer and Jaguar to advertise on
the highly watched and conversational gay network. Norman wrote, produced and was a co-host on GET’s Party
Talk, and helped create Marko’s Style and Inside Out. Currently, GET has
entered the New York Stock Exchange looking to create the first national gay
network.
In 1994, Norman moved to Los Angeles to expand GET. Shortly
thereafter, he interviewed for E! Television’s Talk Soup and other television
pilots. After finding Los Angeles, to be a community where so many talents can
be brought together, Norman and a group of equally talented art directors and
production designers formed a group called The Art Department, which gives rise
to a community of artists and filmmakers known by Buzz Magazine as “Baby
Bergamot in Santa Monica. At the same time, Norman artistically freelanced on productions ranging from The
Oscars and the Pacific Design Center, to Radio City Music Hall’s half-time show
starring Diana Ross for the 30th Super Bowl In 1999, Norman formed a
partnership with producer, Clint Cowen, to create a film and commercial
production company called Fruit Films. Through that company, he wrote produced
and directed The Wedding Video, released in 2003, starring ten ex-cast members
of MTV’s The Real World. The story is a tale about what can go wrong at a
wedding and what it takes to edit out the truth to produce a more glamorous
ending. The Wedding Video has been
the hit at the Park City, Utah Digidance Festival and has played at several
festivals throughout the country. It has also been released to the public
through TLA video and Warner Bros. Television. You may find our film at Virgin Mega Stores, Tower Records,
Musicland, Blockbuster.com, Amazon.com and my favorite, Weddingvideomovie.com.
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