Kathleen Jacobs at Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo, 2022
Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo presented a two-site solo exhibition of new work by American artist Kathleen Jacobs. The show included seven of Jacobs’ large oil paintings and one small painting presented at the Tokyo gallery from May 21-July 16, 2022, and 11 small paintings, one large painting, and six sculptures presented off-site at CADAN Yurakucho from May 17-June 5, 2022. The exhibitions were also accompanied by the publication of a new monograph, which includes plates of Jacobs’ work, scholarly essays, and an interview with the artist.
Jacobs creates her signature paintings using a unique technique known as frottage, by which she wraps tree trunks with canvases and linens, resulting in idiosyncratic markings caused by divergent weather patterns and bark textures. Jacobs often wraps and re-wraps materials many times on different trees, and leaves them outside, exposed to the elements, sometimes for up to three years. She then removes the canvases, soaks them in water, and stretches and restretches them onto bars, rotating them from vertical to horizontal as she completes the pieces. The monochromatic, dream-like canvases that result from this process draw the viewer into a trance-like experience. Like gravestone rubbings, the pieces provide a tactile record of place that brings the viewer into a specific site, while simultaneously creating an otherworldly, altogether new landscape, one that occurs at the intersection of artist, tree, and viewer.
Jacobs creates her signature paintings using a unique technique known as frottage, by which she wraps tree trunks with canvases and linens, resulting in idiosyncratic markings caused by divergent weather patterns and bark textures. Jacobs often wraps and re-wraps materials many times on different trees, and leaves them outside, exposed to the elements, sometimes for up to three years. She then removes the canvases, soaks them in water, and stretches and restretches them onto bars, rotating them from vertical to horizontal as she completes the pieces. The monochromatic, dream-like canvases that result from this process draw the viewer into a trance-like experience. Like gravestone rubbings, the pieces provide a tactile record of place that brings the viewer into a specific site, while simultaneously creating an otherworldly, altogether new landscape, one that occurs at the intersection of artist, tree, and viewer.
July 20, 2022