Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery
Jewish Community Centre, Vancouver BC
January 25 - March 4, 2007
Preview of the Visual Arts
March, 2007
by Mia Johnson
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of historical reference.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.
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Kathryn Jacobi, The Yellow Room,
2005), oil on canvas, diptych |
