Artist + Analyst: Billy Jacobs
Billy Jacobs received his BFA in 2008 from Parsons School of Design, and his MFA from New York University in 2017. His work has exhibited at NADA House, Marlborough Chelsea, THEODORE:Art, and FALSE FLAG, where he is currently represented. Jacobs lives and works in New York, NY.
I - Why do you create?
“I want to make something that surprises myself. In kindergarten, I made my first drawing: it was a taxonomy of different kinds of fruit. While drawing, I remember being impressed that I was able to assign the correct color and shape to create a likeness of each fruit. I continued to draw throughout my childhood and adolescence, always enjoying it as an activity like playing with Legos or watching TV. When I went to art school, my interest in drawing shifted into painting. As this former hobby became my area of study, I developed a more critical eye, and became interested in improving my craft. I realized I was curious how other painters, using essentially the same materials, made work that looked so much better than my own. I wanted to know how they mixed that color, created that texture, or thought to describe an object in that particular way. As I developed more facility with painting, I was able to replicate some of these moments I admired. More crucially, I even stumbled upon a few successes that felt wholly my own. As my skills improved, I began to become more intrigued by visual arts latent ability to communicate through both its imagery and the way in which that imagery is rendered. A decade later, these surprises of meaning and form continue to be a source of vexation, intrigue, and delight.”
II - Do you tend to recall your dreams? Do you notice any connection between your dream life and artistic life?
“Any dream that I remember is inherently significant, though not always relevant to my work. I am thrilled when I can incorporate an idea from a dream into a painting. I spend an incredible amount of time trying to discover imagery that inspires me, so waking up with an idea is a gift. I have tended to utilize a single image or moment from the dream, rather than use a dream’s overarching narrative. Often many months pass before I know how to incorporate the dream into a painting. Last week I began a painting based on a dream that dates back to 2017, which I had while vacationing in Costa Rica. The dream involved Steve Bannon and a Garlands-era Cocteau Twins song. I am still teasing out the relationship of these signifiers, but this juxtaposition, generated by my unconscious, is enough to inspire me.”
III - What does the following quote evoke for you?
“Words have a magical power. They can either bring the greatest happiness or the deepest despair. “ - Freud
“Words are not really a part of my creative process. I do not have a writing practice, nor do I incorporate text in my paintings. Rather, my engagement with language is often as a byproduct of art-making: needing to title the work, writing about my intentions, etc. Writing about my work can be frustrating because I already feel like I have expressed myself visually. When I attempt to translate my visual language into words, it often feels incomplete or even misleading. However, I love to read someone else’s writing about my work. Another’s eloquence can condense, tweak, and spark all sorts of new ways for me to rethink what I have made. At its best, it can provide me with inspiration for new work.
I have more of a creative relationship with words when I title a painting. I keep a running list of potential titles on my phone. These are usually phrases which I jot down from song lyrics, the news, twitter, arcane histories, personal conversations, etc. By the time I am pulling titles from the list, I often forget the original source of the text. The titles add another layer of reference without, hopefully, being too heavy or didactic. For me, language is an embellishment that floats around the work, not a container for it.”
IV - What is your experience of yourself during times of peak creativity versus times when you feel blocked or simply less creative?
“I am embarrassed to admit that I experience peak creativity in the morning. It is not as Romantic as the image of the artist toiling late into the night, but it is when I make my best work. I feel energetic and alert, yet my brain feels dreamy and uncluttered. At that time of day, it is easy for me to focus on the act of painting, while also remaining hyper-associative and unselfconscious. As the realities of the day creep in, it becomes more of a challenge to maintain that hypnogogic headspace. By sundown, I find it impossible to access it.
On a more extended scale of time, like all artists, I experience ebbs and flows of productivity. Thankfully, I have never experienced a true creative block. I think this is partially due to the subject matter of my work being inspired by an external source: the secretive and scandalous moments of American history. When I am unsure of what to make next, I can turn to research as a way forward. I have always been able to find a new person or event that intrigues me, and that I feel compelled to bring to a viewer’s attention. Two years ago, I found a muse in Paul Manafort, for his role in the unfolding Trump-Russian collusion scandal. He seemed like the perfect symbol of the secrecy, greed, Cold War, corruption, and nihilism at the core of the American identity that has always disturbed and fascinated me. As the scandal has evolved from a fringe, left-wing conspiracy to mainstream news, I feel like I have been on an almost manic, creative bender. Throughout the day, I read twitter, watch the news, talk to friends who work in politics, and cultivate a bounty of content. There have been days where I am racing to make sketches just to remember fragments of details which could become paintings. It is an odd feeling to have your creative process (and personal joy) tied so closely to the news cycle and a national trauma, but I find purpose in trying to process and visualize this chaotic era.”
V - How does the creative act impact your sense of self? Your psychic well-being?
“I feel a sense of pride in converting an idea into my own image (pun intended). I am being a little facetious, but the imagery of my paintings is always drawn from subjects that exist in the public sphere: people, events, photo-documents, history, etc. I metabolize these subjects through the act of painting in my own “style,” or "voice,” or “language.” This translation helps to bridge disparate elements within a single painting, and hopefully communicates something about their associations to a viewer. I feel an intense need to remind a viewer of our shared history, which too often feels lost or misunderstood. Paradoxically, I feel it necessary to communicate in a way that does not feel didactic: mystery, symbolism, and a lack of verbal language forces a viewer to puzzle out their own experience and relationship with the work and our history.”
VI - What is your sensory experience of your body when engaged in the creative act? Before? After?
“While creating, I experience stages of working that feel sort of like sleep cycles. I find it easy to stay focused while painting, but like sleep, I experience deeper moments of absorption. It is a bit like being on autopilot, where decisions are made automatically and intuitively. It is thrilling, when every brush you select, every mark you make, every color you mix just works without much conscious thought. I only become aware of these moments after they pass, and I snap back to reality. It also resembles the stages of absorption and focus I experience while watching a good film. Although I may pay attention throughout the entire length of the film, there will be moments where I am completely absorbed, unaware of myself or the film’s artiface. Just as with sleep or during a film, I do not notice being inside of my body. However unlike those passive activities, I am standing, moving, rummaging through paint tubes, mixing things, jumping onto stools to reach tall canvases, but it all occurs absentmindedly. It is odd how much dexterity, agility, and muscle control, are required and accessed with hardly any awareness.”
VII - What is the biggest impediment to a creative life?
“Not knowing what music to put on.”
VIIb - What facilitates it?
“Finding the right music to put on.”
Many thanks to Billy for assisting in the development of this project and for his thoughtful engagement.
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