Paul Jacobsen: Spatial Vision

3 November - 16 December 2023

Overview

At the conceptual core of the exhibition is a study of light. Light makes vision possible, revealing the material reality of our surroundings and enabling our perception. A visible form of energy that shapes our reality while also functioning as a metaphor for understanding, revelation, and the true nature of things.

David B. Smith Gallery is pleased to announce Spatial Vision, by New York-based artist Paul Jacobsen. This show builds on two distinct art movements: Romanticism and Minimalism, and is soaked in deep purples, indigos, violets, and oranges, and studded with his signature lens flares. Jacobsen’s adept technical skills shine in his trompe l’oeil depictions of great expanses within humble constraints. Both prismatic and monochrome, these dualities encompass the interactions of the world outside and the one within. While the reframing of works made in the middle of the industrial revolution evokes the specter of all that has come since. Given this perspective across time the viewer is invited to trace the shape of the sublime as it morphs into the climate chaos raging against the ravages of an thoroughly industrialized world.