Herb Jackson Exhibition
Getting Too Close
Abstract art began as a medium of rebellion against the norm. For many years, representational work dominated the culture as artists strove to realistically depict the physical world. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that popularity started to move away from realism and toward looser portrayals of subject with the impressionists. Major cultural and social upheaval in the early 20th century led artists to express emotion and meaning with less literal, more subjective representations. Abstraction was a way to conceptually convey feeling through shape, form, color and line, taking viewers away from the realities of every day. Abstraction to any degree is art in its purest form, it is simple and freeing, honest and fluid.
The Art Cellar Gallery is celebrating its 30th season as an arts destination in beautiful Banner Elk, North Carolina. With no shortage of creativity in the area, the gallery focuses on regional artists that have roots in the surrounding Appalachian communities. An exciting exhibition lineup has been prepared for this Summer - Herb Jackson will have a solo exhibition of small works on display in the gallery from June 15th through July 2nd.
“To require that an image, be a bearer of content, that is must be recognizable is to suggest that there is no form to the unknowable. My journey through art confirms, for me at least, that it is not necessary to rob life of its mystery in order to understand it.” - Herb Jackson
Herb is an influential abstract artist who has had over 150 solo exhibitions in the US, England, Peru, Portugal and Canada and has won countless awards including the North Carolina award for his contributions to our state’s cultural heritage. He attended and taught at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina where he continues to live and work.
Best known for his large mixed media acrylic paintings, he applies paint, sand and mica in countless layers with no preliminary plans of the end result. As the layers are applied, he arbitrarily builds up and scrapes away at the surface of the piece, allowing it to organically reveal itself. “As the painting progresses, forms, marks, signs and gestures begin to appear from within, and they may last for twenty or so layers, or be gone during the application of the next,” Herb explains.
The Art Cellar will be featuring his oil crayon works on paper and oil bar works on birch panels in the upcoming exhibition. These pieces are created with a similar process as his acrylics - where layer after layer is applied in a sporadic manner to allow each piece to take on a life of its own. The oil crayon drawings on rag paper are almost sculptural with Herb’s powerful strokes and confident markings trailing from deckled edge to edge. The oil bar paintings on birch panel achieve textures that are not unlike a landscape topography, with thick deposits of oil and wax creating vibrant mountains and valleys across the panel. His compositions call to mind many things to various viewers - ancient letter fragments, geometric constructions, feathers, waterfalls and more; all which reveal themselves through his release of control over the final outcome; although, he does not aim to represent any specific subjects. Herb applies both an acceptance of the unknown and deliberation of movement, incising into the layers with palette knives, screwdrivers, dental tools and even his own fingernails. His work is truly one of a kind and the final compositions are always showstopping.
An open house for Herb Jackson’s exhibition will be held at the Art Cellar on June 25th from 3-5pm.
Written by Lauren Olds