Jeroen Jacobs
JJ
opening 14 January 2012, 2 – 6 pm in conjunction with Reception Berlin, Sassa Trülzsch and Center
exhibition 14 January – 25 February 2012
Wednesday – Saturday 11 am – 6 pm and by appointment
When first entering Jeroen Jacobs’ studio, it is not clear which of the objects laying around are art pieces or material assemblages and which can be considered studio artefacts. One quickly realises that within this uncertainty there lies a system, that this is the workshop of an artist who explores the threshold between the everyday and artistic form.
Jacobs’ constellations made from found and acquired materials develop from directed and economical interventions with which he combines banal materials. Alongside concrete, Jacobs has used different materials in the past few years. He applies them in shape of the products themselves, half-finished products or their remains. For example he uses stove pipes, yoghurt cups, plastic sheeting, textiles, metal bars, sawed-off table legs, confectionary wrappers and sometimes even bathroom cabinets. Jacobs’ economical employment of defining, creative gestures does precisely as little as possible, but as much as necessary in order to provide a new frame of reference for these diverse objects and materials.
The key element in Jacobs’ first solo exhibition at Sommer & Kohl is a hammer, which carries his initials. His father gave him this hammer when he started art college and punched “JJ” into it by hand. Surprised by the chain of personal references of this much used tool, the artist started to tackle a series of steel and aluminium tubes. In this new group of works, Jacobs’ reduces the “creative” act to the sheer, rhythmical beating of the material – warped, twisted and deformed during this process. Despite this succinct treatment the deformation is just about specific enough to reveal a creative intent.
Jacobs’ work deals with sculptural concerns, the potential of gestures, materials and the studio space. What remains is an imperfection, an inadequacy, a remnant of ordinary daily routine which is negotiated and balanced in all his works. In the new sculptures the act of hammering is such a remnant: a crude, physical process which does not completely achieve the transformation of the steel tube into a sculpture but emphasizes the performative aspect of the artistic production.
Jeroen Jacobs (1968, NL) lives and works in Berlin. Over the past years, his works have been on view in solo- and group exhibitions at Berlinische Galerie, Georg-Kolbe-Museum, Kunstraum Kreuzberg /Bethanien, Autocenter and NGBK in Berlin and Cacaofabriek in Helmond (NL) (selection). His exhibition at OSLO10 in Basel (CH) will open in March. Sommer & Kohl will show a solo presentation of new works at Art Rotterdam from 8 – 12 February.
Please contact Sommer & Kohl for further information and/or images.
With kind support of the Dutch Embassy.
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