He played a major role in establishing the first cultural exchanges in the field of visual arts between the United States and the Soviet Union during the period of perestroika.
One of Sorokko's main initiatives was advancing the virtually nonexistent public profile of the underground art movement then taking place in the Soviet Union, which included works by expatriates who had relocated to the West, as well as the multitude who remained.
[8] With the advent of glasnost, in 1988, Sorokko orchestrated and sponsored an unprecedented return to the Soviet Union of the exiled Russian artist Mihail Chemiakin, for a retrospective exhibition at the Moscow Tretyakov Gallery.
According to the British Independent, the "opening gala of the Serge Sorokko Gallery in SoHo was so crowded that even Spike Lee cooled his heels on the sidewalk rather than brave the crush.
There were photos of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall; of Cher and of Eddie Murphy; of bare-breasted teenage club-girls with glitter on their faces; of deeply stoned couples in hotpants and afros, goosing each other in front of punk clubs; and of fashion-world luminaries staring at naked, writhing performance artists.
"[14] Describing the "mob of guests kept out of the overpacked gallery by bouncers," columnist Bob Morris wrote in The New York Times: "And this door scene was bad.
"[15] "The Last Party is a fascinating exhibition," declared the British journalist and author Suzy Menkes in the International Herald Tribune, "because of the wide variety of its 60 different photographers and 300 images excellently orchestrated and hung.
[21] In 2010, Serge Sorokko Gallery moved from its location on Grant Avenue to a much larger ground floor space at 55 Geary Street, on Union Square in San Francisco.
[22] The new gallery's inaugural exhibition was a world premiere of a site-specific installation of paintings, trompe-l'œil works on paper and sculptures by the Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave.