JIM JACOBS
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION
Jim Jacobs is a sculptural artist based in Ogden, Utah. Jacobs received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Jacksonville University in Florida and his Master of Fine Arts from East Carolina University in North Carolina. In 1985 Jacobs moved to Utah where he taught visual arts at Weber State University up until 2015. Inspired by the relationship between humans and the environment, he began incorporating woven tree branches into his paintings, which eventually evolved into an exclusively sculptural practice. Jacobs believes wood is deeply entwined in our lives – it has a physicality and a relationship to our bodies which lends itself to be metaphors for us, our social and political idiosyncrasies and, in particular, our role in nature.
Jim Jacobs | A La Deriva, 2026 | maple wood | 67 x 75 x 85 in. | $7,000
Jim Jacobs, 'Dead Reckoning,' 2019, mulberry and maple wood, 48 x 40 x 34 in., $5,400
Jim Jacobs, 'Woof Moo,' 2024, maple and apple wood, 51 x 60 x 21 in., $5,400
Jim Jacobs, 'Ouroboros,' 2016, apple and maple wood, clothespin spring, 34 x 21 x 2 in., $2,600
Jim Jacobs, '61520,' 2020, cherry wood, 36 x 36 x 12 in., $3,800
Jim Jacobs, 'Body Check,' 2023, maple and apple, 56 x 36 x 8 in., $4,500
Jim Jacobs, 'Absalom,' 2017, cherry wood and human hair, 50 x 46 x 21 in., $5,200
Jim Jacobs, 'Patas Arriba,' 2019, found chair, maple and apple wood, 110 x 52 x 72 in., $9,400
Jim Jacobs, 'Flagellate,' 2016, maple and apple wood, 46 x78 x 25 in., $5,500
Jim Jacobs, 'Breach,' 2021, maple, wood, 50 x 120 x 120 in., $11,600
Jim Jacobs, 'Tap,' 2016, cherry wood and sledge hammer head, 52 x 2 x 20 in., $3,500
Jim Jacobs, 'Slip,' 2015, maple and mulberry wood, 46 x 110 x 14 in., $7,200
Jim Jacobs, 'Spiral,' 2016, cherry wood, 75 x 104 x 72 in., $10,000
Jim Jacobs, 'Exchange,' 2022, maple wood, 39 x 145 x 30 in., $11,600
Jim Jacobs, 'Unskinned #5,' 2023, maple and apple, 41 x 20 x 10 in., $4,000
Jim Jacobs began his undergraduate studies within the sciences, but found he was more drawn to the arts as a means for sharing what intrigued him. The artist emerged with a palette in one hand, brush in the other, and throughout the 80s and 90s challenged the traditional understanding of what a painting could be. Sculpture stepped into the forefront of Jacobs’ mind as he would blend his canvases with the natural environment, create openings to engage with strips of wood passing through the center, and would even use window screens or other sheer materials as the surfaces of his compositions.
Early examples of Jim Jacobs’ work. Images courtesy of the artist.
Jacobs received both his Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees in painting, but ultimately found that the wooden structures which held his canvases up were more interesting than the paintings alone. While already pushing the boundaries of the stretched canvas, the artist began incorporating tree limbs, which then, in the context of the greater questions and wonders of nature, evolved into the three-dimensional pieces we see today.
Jim Jacobs
Dead Reckoning, 2019
mulberry and maple wood
48 x 40 x 34 in.
$5,400
Jacobs’ sculptures are not direct reflections of nature’s obscurities. More so, the unruly twigs and angular junctions showcase the power imbalances between humans and the earth. As Jacobs describes it, this place in which we live, and often romanticize, is overruled by the declaration of humanity as the stewards of all other living beings and resources. The myth that humans “uphold the artifice of our exceptionalism” makes us blind to the disproportionate power we place over the planet.
Jacobs’ studio, located in Ogden, Utah, is filled to the brim with materials. The artist shares he has sourced his wood from his front yard, nearby mills, local construction sites and even dumpsters. The process of building each piece varies, but generally all begin with a simple sketch and come to fruition through experimentation and narrative-building. At times, the wood is laminated. On occasion, it is steamed. If necessary, it is cut, planed, drilled, notched or carved. Primarily, the artist uses a grafting method to join wooden limbs together.
A look inside the artist’s studio in Ogden, Utah.
For Jim Jacobs, grafting reinforces the structure’s sturdiness and also allows him to introduce unfamiliar manmade objects or even human hair. The grafted combinations are gangly, fragile and odd. It is the unnatural elements that notify the viewer this structure is, in fact, human-made.
Jacobs continues to question our peculiar role within nature – how we can fully acknowledge our unleveled exchange, how we can find a consensus about the world we’d like to live in, and how we can repair our splintering social and political structures in order to shape the environment we envision.
Jim Jacobs
Mika's Ponytail 11, 2022
willow, human hair
39 x 5 x 3 in.
$1,500
Jim Jacobs
Ouroboros, 2016
apple and maple wood, clothespin spring
34 x 21 x 2 in.
$2,600
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