Please take a little time to visit my website at: www,jonahjacobs.com

Salted and Breaded, but Never Baked

                Several years ago I began to make the transition away from paper based collage work to more dimensional work that has an organic feel to it. One of the first upcycled materials I began to experiment with were toilet paper and paper towel tubes.  I quickly learned what materials could be applied to the outside of the tube in order to give it a crusty textural look. I also learned what materials could be stuffed in the tubes in order to make them look as if various types of growth were sprouting out of their tops.

                People often praise the use of color in my work. Though I am not certain, I feel the vibrancy and natural feel of the color is derived from the various dyes I use as opposed to paint. Acrylic paint, when applied to many surfaces other than canvas, tends to have a plastic and somewhat fake feel to it. Paint is bright, smooth, and its luminosity at times can be harsh. Dyes on the other hand, readily soak into natural materials whereas paints tend to coat. In essence, dyes leave the textural qualities of work like mine in tact whereas paint would destroy it by smothering such materials in a thin coating of colored latex. The crusty, dye infused coatings on my work allow the light to bounce off at irregular angles creating a diffuse warmer hue. The challenge for me then, while experimenting with dyes as an external color choice, was to find a material that was cheap enough to cover large sections of artwork and could soak up either dyed water or sprinkled dye sprayed with water. My first choice was salt.

                At first I began to experiment with regular table salt. It was an excellent medium for soaking up color, but its granules were so small that the textural element I was looking for was lacking. I even did some experiments, with varying degrees of success, in growing dye infused salt crystals. Unfortunately, the crystals remained small and the process was too involved for large scale application.

                Quickly I began to think of larger types of salts which would give my work a more pronounced textural element. I experimented with road salt, or de-icing salt. This type of salt was too large and often too dirty for use. I tried breaking it up into smaller granules but found the process to not be worth the time and effort. The only good thing about de-icing salt was the fact that it is so cheap, still though, it proved to be unworthy of the task at hand. The next salt I began to use was Epsom salt. Its granules were medium size; it soaked up water well, was relatively cheap, and easy to apply. For the next few years I used Epsom salt as my main material for producing texture on my work. Some days I would chuckle inside as I bought four large containers of Epsom salt, thousands of cotton swabs, and lighter fluid from a grocery store, all of which were supplies for my artwork. I can only imagine what the cashier thought – maybe she thought I had some kind of alien skin rash?

                I later learned that the major downside to Epsom salt was at times it tended to get brittle and turn into a powdery white substance. Sometimes it did this despite the coats of acrylic spray and matte medium I used to ensure the Epsom salt remained stable.  Most of it did not get brittle but even in small amounts I felt the look detracted from the overall beauty of my work. The salt was originally used on my first Polyp pieces, a little bit on my first Accretion piece, on my first Termitaria install, and a little on my first Peridium piece.

Polyp #1

Accretion #1 (Yellow middle part -- salted, all other pieces are breaded.)

Peridium #1 (A mix of salt and oatmeal mostly on the sides of individual pieces.)

Termitaria Collinasia (All pieces have been breaded.)

                While using Epsom salt I began to experiment with oatmeal. It was a little more expensive than salt and a bit chunkier, two qualities I was not thrilled about. It did however have a strength that salt did not possess, that is it did not break down and turn white in some instances like salt did. Still though, it took me a year or more after some of my initial experiments to come around to oatmeal. The real change of heart came when I got a small mechanical grinder that allowed me to crush the oatmeal into rough flour. Now I had a material that was relatively cheap, easily applied, could readily soak up water, and did not degrade as easily as salt did.

                So yes, at first my art was salted and now it is breaded. And no, you shouldn’t try and eat it for the outside is always coated with acrylic sprays, and either matte medium or polycrylic. Recently, in order to increase the subtleness of color variations on the surface of my material, I have also been applying various amounts and types of colored sand. Soon I hope to begin experiments on how to dye my own sand. I am doing this because the variety of colored sand you can buy at craft stores leaves out many colors I wish I had access to. I will also be looking into how various other grains work when crushed up, and I have even given some thought about experimenting with sawdust. This will have to wait though for I do not currently have access to a steady flow of sawdust by which to do experiments with.

                As you can see, I am always trying out new textural elements, materials, and colors which I feel are more natural and pleasing to the eye than paint could ever be.            

Peridium #1

Peridium #1

 

  

Peridium #1

2015

30" in diameter  with a depth of approximately 32"

Materials used: Up-cycled egg cartons, paint, dye, salt, sand, plaster, and model railroad gravel.

 

 

 

Colony 

Imagine walking down your average city street in America. Especially in an area hard hit by economic collapse. Storefronts lie vacant, the streets are barren, paint peels off weather worn walls, and signs which once advertised booming businesses rust and droop from caving in facades. Tired, the city sighs the sullen exhalation of years of neglect. On such streets, nature waits patiently, longing for the day of its verdant return. In broken sidewalks, sprouting up amidst the cracks, grass springs up in tufts of green spray. The roots of trees, with herculean effort, push up concrete slabs as if trying to free themselves of their shackles. Animals scurry at night, leery of headlights and the thunderous whir of spinning wheels on the tired pavement.

                Now imagine, for a moment at least, that this gray world, sprouted forth from its own refuse, an organic landscape vibrant with color, texture, and alive in flowing form.  In windows, storefronts, across buckling walls, bursting out of floors and ceilings – a coral like mass of alien like life forms transforming space into scenes of beauty and grace. This is my vision. This is COLONY.

                The first in a series of unique organic looking installs that transform under-utilized and abandoned space into flowing organic looking sculptural landscapes. Like an invasive species out competing its rivals, these colonies will spread. Anywhere there is ruin, a Colony may take seed. So, as you walk, numbed by worry or transfixed by the soft light of technical gadgetry, please remember to take notice of the life around you – for in some forgotten recess or a crack in a crumbling wall, you may just stumble upon a new world. A world filled with strange life forms -- a colony that no other eyes have seen before. Now go forth and explore.

The above is a picture of the finished install. 

My original idea for the Colony install was to create a flowing organic sculptural piece which covered all four walls of the room in which I was installing in. However, several problems proved too much to overcome. For one, the walls in this room were in bad shape with the plaster cracking in places and in one spot missing entirely. I was worried that the weight of the piece would not be supported by the plaster of the walls. I was also worried that since I was going to have to use hundreds of nails, that more plaster would crack and fall off the walls further endangering my install. Originally I had thought to glue most of the pieces onto the wall, but being that I wanted to get all of my pieces back, and that the glue would be close to impossible to pry off the wall, I decided against the wall install and went with the floor instead.

Before I decided however, to abandon the wall install, I began laying all of my pieces out on the floor. The following pictures show this series of events. 

The above three pictures constituted the totality of the amount of material I had at the beginning of the Colony install. The original layout was haphazardly created. I was trying to gauge how much space the material would take up and whether or not I was going to be able to cover all the walls in the time allotted to me.

The above picture represents how much material I had after a little more than a month of work.

After another month or so of work the above is how much material I had completed. Creating my work is a painstaking process which takes months of intricate work. 

With a few weeks to go before the deadline I decided to do away with the flowing design and instead switch to a circular design with an inner and outer circle which consisted of different materials. 

After nearly five months of work the Colony install was finally finished. The following pictures represent the piece from a multitude of vantage points. 

 The above two pictures capture the sweep of the circle's arc going separate directions.

The following pictures are of the inner circle. 

The Following two pictures are of the finished install.

Materials used: Cardboard tubes of various sizes, paint, dye, various salts, oatmeal, cotton swabs, various yarns and fabrics, plaster, styrofoam, cardboard, various sands, and plaster. This is not a comprehensive list of materials but does represent the most common types used. Spring to summer 2013. 

   

     

Mimesis: Sculptural Works by Jonah Jacobs and Rebecca Cross

Currently on view at Survival Kit gallery. http://survivalkitgallery.com

The following are some selections of Rebecca Cross' art which was also on display alongside my artwork.

On view at Survival Kit, Friday Sept.16th through Nov. 18th:
MIMESIS: SCULPTURAL WORKS BY JONAH JACOBS + REBECCA CROSS

Using distinctly different materials, Rebecca Cross and Jonah Jacobs both draw upon nature to create organic, whimsical sculpture that evokes forest, flower, and sea life. Both artists create a tension between weird and familiar, raw and delicate, creating a visual experience that feels oddly natural.

OPENING NIGHT IS FROM 5PM-11PM

For more information concerning the art of Rebecca Cross please click on the following link: http://www.rebeccastextiles.com/