Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery
Jewish Community Centre, Vancouver BC
January 25 - March 4, 2007
Kathryn Jacobi is a multi-talented artist
with a keen sense of historical reference. She has been described
as a “conceptual realist” for her informed use of
a number of artistic styles, techniques and themes. Her work
has variously focussed on singers, dancers and still life imagery.
A unifying theme in her work has been the idea of the “diva”
as a metaphor for mankind striving to reach the perfect note.
Jacobi’s exhibition at the Jewish Community Centre is
comprised of paintings of musicians. While many of the musicians
are adult, several are of children making music. The central
image in the show, The Yellow Room, depicts a young
child practicing the violin. The painting, like several others
in the exhibit, suggests the thriving continuum of European
culture as transmitted through its music. Although the figure
is bathed, Vermeer-like, in a wash of sunlight falling through
the window, the acid-green shorts and yellow soccer shirt belie
the centuries. Its currency is further suggested by a break
in the image where a contemporary diptych separates the feet.
Kathryn Jacobi divides her time between Santa Monica, California
and Sechelt, BC. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited
in museums, universities, and galleries in Berlin, Denmark,
Madrid, Toronto and Vancouver, as well as throughout the United
States. Solo exhibitions include such prestigious galleries
as the Kunst pa Kalvo in Jutland Denmark; the Fresno Art Museum
in California; Judische Gallery, Berlin; the Jan Baum Gallery,
Los Angeles; and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Jacobi
has exhibited with the Diane Farris Gallery in Vancouver since
1993.
Mia Johnson
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The Yellow Room (2005), oil
on canvas, diptych |
