Some call Robert Sarnoff, “Rockaway’s Artist.”

He has been referred to as “A Local Treasure”.

*August 2024, a new magazine featuring Pillars of Rockaway New York, devoted an issue to his exploits and contributions, going so far as to refer to Robert as “A Renaissance Man”.

*Honored by The United States Postal Service 2004, for being the first and only local artist ever to have created a USPS matted print and cachet,

“Ye Olde Jetty”.

This image: Cover of Rockaway’s map, splash page of Visitor’s Guide, Belle Harbor Property Owners logo and The Wave’s 2019 Summer Guide.

*Artist in Residence: U.S. National Parks and Recreation Service Federal Government Program: Created series of paintings to adorn Federal Facilities. Following year Sarnoff commissioned to paint a mural.

https://www.rockawave.com/articles/local-treasure/

*Robert helped found “The Rockaway Artists Alliance.” RAA.

*Exhibitions: Brooklyn Heights, Hell’s Kitchen, SoHo

*RAA’s “Pillars of The Community” Show.  

*One Man Retrospective Exhibit: RAA 2007 Studio 7.

*Wave: Editorial Cartoonist 15 years. (NY’s oldest weekly)

*Official Artist: Pro Celebrity Tournament Forest Hills NY: Portraits of Oleg Cassini, Bill Talbert, Eli Wallach.

*Official Artist: United Negro College Fund Madison Square Garden; Portraits of Arthur Ashe, Cleavon Little.

*Created ULTIMetWeek logo design for The New York Mets Fantasy Week. *Note: Bob’s wife, Lynda, sent him to this camp for his 50^th birthday.

*Note: Bob pitched four years for Brooklyn College Baseball Team.

 

Award Winning Filmmaker

*Films have appeared on Television and in Theaters.

*THE IRISH ROPES aired on MSG Television multiple times.  Setting: A small gym on the corner of Burchell Avenue and Nowhere in Far Rockaway. Young men battle throughout the five boroughs hoping to climb the four steps into the ring at Madison Square Garden’s Golden Gloves Championship Tournament. Ireland’s John Duddy emerges to fight for a middle weight belt. Screened at The South Street Seaport Museum’s “Tribute to Celtic Fighters”. Screened at The Queens Museum.

*NO ROOMS LOBBY received Best Docudrama Award at The Barebones Festival: Tulsa Oklahoma. “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?” The docudrama appeared on cable television.

*DISPATCH: Belle Rock Car Service. Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy three a.m. ride through Rockaway’s hardscrabble streets. “You sit here, you get a rush.” smiles Jim, the Dispatcher, cigarette dangling from his lip, cup of tea in one hand, yellow marker in the other.

*THE ROMEOWS, (Retired Older Men Eating Out Wednesdays). *Queens World Film Festival Filmmaker Award.

Pull up a chair and break bread with these septuagenarians (now in their eighties) as they break each other’s chops every Wednesday evening. THE ROMEOWS had a theatrical run at Cinema Village NYC. A copy of the movie is in The Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection. An interview with THE ROMEOWS is in Washington’s Library of Congress.

*THE BLOCK, Robert’s latest film is presently on Amazon Prime.       “It’s a crapshoot, who’s your neighbor.”

“True colors are revealed when Hurricane Sandy whirls into town.”

“In spite of differences of all stripes we somehow get along.”

“A house keeps the rain and wind and snow out. A home keeps the love in.”

“It‘s like the ocean; there’s a constant ebb and flow.”

*A replica of Charlie Chaplin’s childhood East London Block, on his Hollywood studio, punctuates the impact of one’s beginnings.

“A block forms you, defines you.”

Screenings: Manhattan Film Expo, Rockaway Filmmakers Festival.

 

*Brooklyn College Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award Sept 14, 2014

*EDITORIAL CARTOONIST: The Wave, NY’s oldest weekly, fifteen years. Created weekly political cartoons.

AUTHOR:

AFTER THE FALL 9/11/11 A DECADE @ WAR is a compilation of approximately 150 of these political cartoons complete with annotations, year by year, after the Towers were destroyed.

*Robert wrote a column for The Wave complete with observations and

tales told to him with photos and illustrations capturing the wrath of Sandy. His book, Anatomy of an Aftermath is filled with these images and stories.

*Art Educator of the Year Award. 1994 NYC Art Teachers Association and the United Federation of Teachers.

*Director of City Wide Art Program for a network of residential facilities serving the needs of New York City’s homeless population.

 

 

 

PLAYWRIGHT:

Plays Performed Off Broadway: Theater Row, Chelsea, The East Village.

 “Men of Substance” Robert designed a New York City Wide program where Lower East Side residents who were homeless created art, poems, and photographs. Exhibitions: Village Art Galleries and Cooper Union. Hearing their stories of abuse, bouts with addiction, tours in Vietnam, prompted him to write this moving powerful piece. Men of Substance played in small theaters. Stage reading at The Irish Repertory Theater for the industry.

“Brooklyn Trilogy”: Three one-act plays spanning fifty years and The Brooklyn Bridge. (Safe @ Home) TV Dinner and It’s Snowing Up North

Author:

*Cartoons, Comics, Ideas & Techniques, Davis Publications,

*Paper Mache A Projects Manual, J. Weston Walch,

*got a minute? Humorous travel tales and tips. Amazon

*After The Fall 9/11/11 A Decade @ War, Amazon. Cartoons culled from fifteen years of weekly WAVE political cartoon entries.

*Notes From The Crack Between Two Beds, Amazon

Robert’s journey takes us from the hardscrabble streets of Post-Depression Brooklyn to the dunes of a Sartre-like Rockaway Beach. Tales are couched in the conceit of Dinner Theater as he peers out from the wings, gains the courage to emerge, mingle, improvise and clutch the stage mike.

Acting:

First audition: The Rabbi in The Godfather’s Meshuggena Wedding.

Played the role every weekend for half a year. Loved it, loved improv.  Small roles in films and commercials.

Supporting role: FINAL ROUND.

My Website www.robertsarnoff.com includes:

*Interview: Dr Joyce Brothers Radio Show: re: ROMEOWS Opening: Cinema Village Theater NYC

*Queens Memory Project: re: COVID

*FILMS: NO ROOMS LOBBY, DISPATCH, GREEN (The American

Dream), THE ROMEOWS and THE BLOCK.

*Demo Reel: ACTOR

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

Robert Sarnoff

Website: www.robertsarnoff.com

917 923 8282

royalfur@yahoo.com