Marc Jacobson

Region: Midwest

The American city is the starting point for my art. The open stretch of Lake Michigan from the overlooking bluffs in Milwaukee may have fueled an attraction to the shifting light on the spread-out concrete plains of Indianapolis. The work stands between abstraction and representation. Opposing qualities drive these paintings: the order of the compositions against the seeming disorder of the gestural moments, their stillness against the implication of movement. I want them to be accessible and blunt records of contemporary visual history. These sites may recall issues of current concern, such as urban sprawl–I am simply drawn to them. I find them oddly beautiful, and their vulgarity runs counter to a crafted order and richness–qualities I admire in art and music–that I reach for.