JOHN JACOBSMEYER A Ludicrous Build August 30–October 19, 2022
Stan State Art State University, Stanislaus
Space California
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DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD
Ellen InterimRoehneDirector, University Art Galleries California State University, Stanislaus
John Jacobsmeyer’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and he has been a part of the New York art scene for the past 22 years. He operates the JJHS Press where his wordless book, More Human Than Human was published in 2010 and his portfolio Safety First was produced for the Shanghai Metro in 2013. He continues to create numerous editions of lithography and woodcut prints. Jacobsmeyer has taught and lectured at over forty colleges and universities throughout the world and his work is housed in many prestigious permanent art collections. I am very excited to exhibit John Jacobsmeyer’s work for others to enjoy. I would like to extend my gratitude to the many colleagues that have been instrumental in making this exhibition possible- John Jacobsmeyer for the opportunity to exhibit his incredible work; Kory Twaddle, Gallery Assistant, for organizing and arranging the show details; Brad Peatross of the School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus for the catalog design; and Parks Printing for the production of the catalogs. I also want to express my appreciation to the Instructionally Related Activities Program of California State University, Stanislaus, as well as anonymous donors for the funding of the exhibition and catalogue.
A Ludicrous Build, by John Jacobsmeyer, represents an opportunity to view this artist’s amazing art work. This exhibit showcases the prints and paintings inspired by games of all kinds. Utilizing perspec tive developed by the Renaissance masters while including imagery often found in video games, Jacobsmeyer creates anomalies for the viewer to ponder; secret worlds for us to discover. His work leads us through unknown and mysterious passageways, offering a glimpse into his imagination and the narrative that games can elicit. By combining environments with traditional illusions of space and surreal unexpected objects and circumstances, John Jacobsmeyer creates contemporary images that remind us of virtual realities so popular today.
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As a painter and printmaker, John Jacobsmeyer has been an active contributor to the dis course in conceptual figuration in the New York area since the late nineties. He operates a printshop adjacent to his painting studio, an arrangement that, as he says, “engenders crossfertilization between the disciplines”. Jacobsmeyer earned his BFA from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale University. He has taught or given lectures at numerous Colleges and Universities around the world including RISD, Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, Shanghai University, Vanderbilt University, and the Pratt Institute. He received artist residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program, Anchor Graphics, Cill Rialig Ireland, Shanghai University and Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul. Awards include two fellowships from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the Basil Alkazzi Award, a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy, a Pollack-Krasner Grant and a New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellow ship. His work is housed in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, New Mexico; the Springfield Museum of Art, Ohio; the States of New Hampshire and South Carolina; the Cities of Seattle and Shanghai, China, as well as numerous colleges, universities and private collections. He has had recent solo exhibitions in Copenhagen, New York and Seattle. His work is available at Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen.
JOHN
JACOBSMEYER
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7 A LUDICROUS BUILD
Within gameplay, any kind of game, there’s a certain ludic joy that comes from one’s immersion in another world. Since childhood, I’ve been intrigued by the sensory realm of games, almost more so than their narrative. This is why, after finishing a video game sequence, I tend to linger in the space as though writing my own epilogue, seeking out the vanquished and the untraveled pathways. Through this process, I discovered the glitches and anomalies that later became the source for the paintings in this exhibition. My hope is that they will elicit a particular uncanny by resembling the familiar space of renaissance illusionism while simultaneously gov erned by algorithms. I feel that contemporary painting’s relevance lies in its capacity to offer a lens on our world, an interpretation informed by a centuries old tradition. So, in my case, these works can offer a ‘read’ of our contemporary trend toward virtual reality.
8 Get Him!, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2015
9 Against Thee Wickedly, Oil on Aluminum, 20 x 20 in, 50.8 x 50.8 cm, 2017
10 Party Boat, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28in., 72 x 72 in., 2022
11 Patrol Meeting, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2015
12 Snowfall, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2011
13 Let’s French, Oil on Aluminum, 45 x 45 in, 114.3 x 114.3 cm, 2018
14 Early Spring, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2012
15 Poison Ivy, Oil on Paper on Linen, 40 x 34 in, 101.6 x 86.3 cm, 2019
16 Be Here Now, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2016
17 Children’s Games, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2016
18 He’s Coming, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2015
19 Wood Rot, Oil on Paper on LinAen, 40 x 34 in, 101.6 x 86.3 cm, 2019
20 Blow Off, Oil on Aluminum, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2016
21 Aligator Pit, Woodcut on Gampi, 28 x 28 in , 72 x 72 cm, 2014
22 Black Cascade, Woodcut on Gampi, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2014
23 Early Spring, Engraving, 12 x 12 in, 40.6 x 40.6 cm, 201 1
24 Future is Present, Woodcut on Gampi, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2014
25 Wasteland, Woodcut on Gampi, 15 x 15 in, 38.1 x 38.1 cm, 2014
26 Me in Your Head Now, Woodcut on Gampi, 12 x 16 in, 30.5 x 40.6 cm, 2017
27 Taken, Woodcut on Gampi, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2014
28 Senate Camera 1, Woodcut on Gampi, 28 x 28 in , 72 x 72 cm, 2014
29 Senate Camera 2, Woodcut on Gampi, 28 x 28 in, 72 x 72 cm, 2015
Art on Paper Fair, Gallery Poulsen, NYC, New York Gaze Shift, Flatiron Gallery/SVA, NYC, New York Representing, Artisan Lofts, NYC, New York Tribeca Ball, New York Academy of Art, NYC, New York 2018 Pulse Art Fair, Gallery Poulsen, Miami Beach, Florida IAPA Exhibition, Taoxichuan Art Museum, Jiangdezhen City, China
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 Seattle Art Fair, Gallery Poulsen, Seattle, Washington Inglorious Bastards, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Let’s Print in Leipzig, Museum fur Druckkunst, Leipzig Once Upon a Time in New York, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen You Tell Me, Foley Gallery, NYC, New York Art Herning Art Fair, Gallery Poulsen, Herning, Denmark Art America Beijing, Chengxi Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China(plus travel to Dalien, Chi-na)
JOHN JACOBSMEYER CV
2022 Art Herning, Art Fair, Gallery Poulsen Lost in Translation, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen 2021 Earthborn, Corpus Christi TX Intouchables, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen 2020 Apocalypse Now, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark Together But Separately, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Contact, Print Portfolio project for Southern Graphics Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada
2015 It Came From a Pine Box, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark More Than Human, New York Center for Book Arts, New York 2014 More Than Human, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington 2008 Prometheus Incubus, Memorial Gallery Farmingdale State University, Farmingdale, New York 2006 What Ban on Human-Animal Hybrids?, Pratt Institute Printmaking Gallery, Brooklyn, New York 2005 Superhero Lonely, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, New York 2004 Grandiosities (two person), Fraser Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. 2003 Accurate Deceptions and Other Optical Illusions, Karl Drerup Art Gallery Plymouth State College, New Hampshire 2002 Orphans, Pastures, and History, Fraser Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland Impossible Patrimonies, Wilkinson Gallery The New York Academy Gallery, NYC, New York
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2022 A Ludicrous Build, California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, California 2020 The Alligator Pit Recoded, New York Academy of Art, New York City, New York 2020 Locus Colossus, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018 Great Feats & Defeats, Jonathan Levine Projects, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, New Jersey 2016 Knotty Children, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Pulse Art Fair, Gallery Poulsen, Miami Beach, Florida Art Herning Art Fair, Gallery Poulsen, Herning, Denmark
2001 Strangely Distorted Views of Very Important People, Nahcotta, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 2000 Sleepwalking with G.I.Joe, Fraser Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1999 Saints and Survivalists, Anchor Graphics, Chicago, Illinois 1998 Frontier Fever, Kougeas Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts 1996 John Jacobsmeyer Faculty Review, University Art Gallery, University of New Hampshire 1993 Paradossi In-Naturali: Recent Works by John Jacobsmeyer, Ex-ministry of Agriculture, Florence, Italy 1990 John Jacobsmeyer: Recent Works, William Halsey Gallery, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND EXPOSITIONS
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SELECTED HONORS AND AWARDS
2015 Between Us, Lodge Gallery, NYC, New York The Copenhagen Interpretation, Gallery Poulsen & Lodge Gallery, NYC, New York In a Blaze of Glory, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen Tell Them Stories: Origins, Mark Miller Gallery, NYC, New York Distortion: a Print Portfolio, Curated by Wuon Gean Ho Locket, Love It, Leave It, Island Weiss Gallery, New York, New York Art Herning 2015, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Unbound: Contemporary Woodcut Prints, Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China Formative Impressions, KCPA International Printmaking Exhibition- 8 Pacific Nations (traveling show) Jincheong Printmaking Museum, South Korea Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea NYAA Summer Juried Exhibition, Flowers Gallery, NYC, New York 2014 Object/Abject the Figure in Contemporary Printmaking (traveling show) Academy of Art University, San Francisco, California New York Academy of Art, NYC, New York
RAIC 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, New Mexico
Cannonball Run, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark Autumn in New York, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark Pulse Miami, Gallery Poulsen, Miami Beach, Florida Art on Paper Fair, Gallery Poulsen, NYC, New York Art Herning, Gallery Poulsen, Herning, Denmark
2010 Artist-in-Residence, Cill Rialaig Residency program, Co. Kerry, Ireland 2008 Artist-in-Residence, Anchor Graphics at Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois
2014 Tell Them Stories, The Foundry, NYC, New York
Poulsen’s Fifteen Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen Denmark New York Academy The Vendue, Charleston, South Carolina Pulse New York, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark Art Herning 2016, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Denmark Pulse Miami, Miami Beach, Florida
2016 Donde esta mi Pistola Arpon?, a print portfolio curated by Miguel Aragon Twisted Impressions, Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington My Blood Runs Yellow Sloan Fine Art, LA, California
2007 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Works on Paper 2002 Pollack Krasner Grant to fund ongoing woodcut book 2000 MacDowell Colony summer residency May/June, Peterborough, New Hampshire
Welcome to New Jersey, Jonathan Levine Projects, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, New Jer-sey Printmaking Biannual, Lima Peru; Seoul, South Korea; Koln, Germany Fractured Body, FAB Gallery, University of the Arts, Tirana, Albanian Printmaking Invitational, Polk State College, Winter Haven, Florida Point of Origin, Lodge Gallery, New York, NY and Abend Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2017 Jetzt Druck Machen, Museum Angerlehner in Thalheim Wels, Germany
2018 Artist-in-Residence, Museum fur Druckkunst Leipzig 2013 Artist-in-Residence, Cill Rialaig Residency program, Co. Kerry, Ireland 2012 Artist in Residence, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China 2011 New York Academy of Art Travel Stipend to Der Spinnerei, Leipzig, Germany
Multiple Multiples, Jonathan Levine Projects, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, New Jersey
1998 Ragdale Foundation/NEA Fellowship and summer residency, Lake Forest, Illinois 1996 Artists Fellowship New Hampshire State Council on the Arts 1994 Basil Alkazzi Award Artists Fellowship New Hampshire State Council on the Arts 1993 Fulbright Extension Grant 1992 Miguel Vinciguerra Fulbright Fellowship to study in Florence, Italy for 10 mo. Fulbright Travel Grant to and from Italy 1991 Roswell Art Center Residency Grant one year residency, Roswell, New Mexico 1989 Elizabeth Canfield Hicks Award, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut
John Jacobsmeyer - A Ludicrous Build
August 30–October 19, 2022 | Stan State Art Space, California State University, Stanislaus | 226 N. First St., Turlock, CA 95380
Alex Quinones Instructional Tech II Kyle Rambatt, Equipment Technician II
UNIVERSITY ART GALLERIES
Dean De Cocker, Director Kory Twaddle, Gallery Assistant SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Brad Peatross, Graphic Specialist II
100 copies printed. Copyright © 2022 California State University, Stanislaus • ISBN 978-1-940753-71-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. This exhibition and catalog have been funded by Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus.
Dr. Ellen Junn, President Dr. Kimberly Greer, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Dr. Staci Scheiwiller, Associate Professor Susan Stephenson, Associate Professor Jake Weigel, Associate Professor Mirabel Wigon, Assistant Professor
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, STANISLAUS
Dr. James A. Tuedio, Dean, College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
DEPARTMENT OF ART Martin Azevedo, Associate Professor, Chair Tricia Cooper, Lecturer Dean De Cocker, Professor James Deitz, Lecturer Daniel Edwards, Associate Professor Patrica Eshagh, Lecturer Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, Professor Daniel Heskamp, Lecturer Chad Hunter, Lecturer Dr. Carmen Robbin, Professor Ellen Roehne, Lecturer
-JACOBSMEYERJOHN BUILDLUDICROUSA STANISLAUSUNIVERSITY,STATECALIFORNIASPACE,ARTSTATESTANISLAUS,
