What is so enthralling about a photograph of the corner of an empty room? Or some colored cards leaning against a studio wall? Or any of the other unpretentious abstract compositions by photographer Bill Jacobson? The answer is exquisitely obvious, all over the walls at both Robert Klein Gallery and its satellite Ars Libri, in Jacobson’s solo retrospective, “This Is, this is (1989-Now)”, on view through April 30, 2016. To borrow from the show’s title, “This is” a must-see.
“Place(Series) #1034, 2013” by Bill Jacobson (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
Those who make abstract art, and particularly photographs, already have a lot of convincing to do. Attempting to capture the imagination, provoke thought and convey emotion while supplying very little raw data doesn’t leave a lot to chance. And Bill Jacobson has done it. Less obvious on a computer screen, I strongly encourage you to see his work in person – or at least in his recently published monograph by Radius Books, “Place (Series)” with a poem by Maureen McLane that reads like music to Jacobson’s score. Both took my breath away.
“Untitled #4033, 2001” by Bill Jacobson (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
Either of Jacobson’s Boston shows will familiarize you with the impressive range of his prolific career. From his early, “defocused” B&W studio portraiture and diffused, color, city street scenes, to his abrupt switch in the mid-2000’s to the tack-sharp imagery that he creates today, Jacobson’s photographs coalesce the cerebral and visceral into rare harmonious balance. As analytic and understated as he is serenely spiritual, Jacobson’s expressive power sings throughout his stylistic divergence and perpetual experimentation. In subdued images that distill complexity into elegant compositions, he escorts viewers onto philosophical terrain.
“Thought Series #2580, 1998” by Bill Jacobson (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of Jacobson’s work is that you don’t have to understand his methodologies or personal story to appreciate it. The way his diffused images from the Interim, Thought, and Song of Sentient Beings series suggest fleeting time, and by extension, our very mortality, is at once nuanced and resounding. Jacobson’s more recent work from his A Series of Human Decisions, Some Planes, Place (Series), and Lines in My Eyes experiment with horizon lines, framing and the very question of what we perceive to be natural or constructed in our world.
“Place(Series) #240, 2010” by Bill Jacobson (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
Many of Jacobson’s recent images feature a blank white rectangle, either in a studio or outdoor setting. In a lively interview with Mark Alice Durant on his blog “saint lucy” (link below), Jacobson expounds, “The blank white rectangle, which pops up constantly in the real world once you start to look for it, has always held a special meaning for me. On a poetic level, it suggests the start of all images up to this date, and the starting point for those that have yet to be completed.” Poetry, the fusion of mind and soul, is what Jacobson expresses in his photography. This Is, this is sublime.
For more information about Jacobson’s dual exhibits or to purchase his monograph Place (Series), go to: http://www.robertkleingallery.com/exhibits.php
To read Bill Jacobson’s interview on the blog saint lucy, go to: http://saint-lucy.com/conversations/bill-jacobson/
Feature Image: “Lines in My Eyes #193, 2013” by Bill Jacobson (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
“Lines in My Eyes #317, 2013” by Bill Jacobson (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston).
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