Now Showing at 23 Sandy Gallery
Bowing to Paradox
an installation
by Diane Jacobs
Through July 31, 2010
In Bowing to Paradox, Portland artist, Diane Jacobs, contemplates life—both the joys and sorrows. Incorporating the structure of the “mobile” into several pieces in this installation, Jacobs metaphorically suggests the human desire for equilibrium. The viewer will experience the constant motion of her kinetic sculptures as reminiscent of a living thing, balancing the mystery of nature and intricacies of the human condition.
Jacobs uses lines of poetry burned into magnolia leaves in Homage to Kathleen. A large tree surrounded by leaves is a figment of your imagination yet when illuminated, the shadows become a testament to its existence.
A grid of 100 metal combs woven with human hair graph an array of personalities in Tangled Identities. For Jacobs, hair represents humanity and is a rich material thick with history, genetics and societal taboos. In much of her work, Jacobs uses hair in the form of hairballs, locks, sewing thread, matting, and weaving fiber.
A mirror made of military dog tags, a wooden comb, and a ruby red apple with two bite marks retells a hairy tale. As in much of her work, Jacobs uses reflective materials to alter perception, scrutinize information, and bring the viewer into the dialog. Mirror Mirror invites the viewer to become part of this piece as well.
Incorporating three scales and a table place setting, Real Meal Deal makes a statement causing the viewer to ponder the political, economic and social ramifications of food in the age of globalization.
Jacobs merges life and art into one continuum. To come to any conclusion, the viewer must investigate their own relationship to the given topic. What is real and what is illusion? We might call it bowing to paradox*.
Diane Jacobs has exhibited nationally for the past 13 years. Her artist books are part of many important collections including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the New York Public Library, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, among others. She presently lives in Portland, Oregon.
23 Sandy Gallery is pleased to have Diane as our second annual installation artist. We are honored to turn over the gallery for one month each summer to yield full control to an artist without the usual constraints of a commercial art gallery. The artist has complete freedom to create a large-scale work and explore creatively beyond their usual boundaries of medium and structure.
*Fragment from the poem Like Blossoms Falling by Kathleen Flowers
Click here to see more photographs of Diane's installation, Bowing to Paradox.
