On Making Objects:
“I do think it's almost always true that a poem begins when two things, perhaps an inner thing and an outer thing which hadn't been together before, suddenly converge and feel as if they wanted to make something new.”
Richard Wilbur
In my work, everyday objects from the simplest and most overlooked places reference basic human nature and anatomy. Years of collected newspapers, photos, kitchen tables and chairs, outboard propellers, and baby shoes, all bound to be discarded or at the very least dismissed, leverage the “something new.”
Starting these conversations in the vernacular, engages what one already knows, juxtaposes and constructs. It is a common commentary that the constancy of objects, which endure in our memories, is change.
I am most interested in observing the changes.
Catherine Jacobi
“Catherine Jacobi’s [work] is a breath of fresh air; a well-received Sunday afternoon reading poetry, an evening at the museum visiting familiar pieces you have had a yearning to see.
The objects that dominate Jacobi’s work evoke the long-lasting memories that we have embedded in them. They remind us of the constancy of objects as anecdotal registries. The sculptural qualities of the work, much like Rauschenberg’s, confront the audience as objects in the world. Stylistically, the use of everyday objects parallels Duchamp’s ‘readymades’ — prioritising ideas over the visual example and expressing subjects of times past and the passing of time so inherent in our human existence, whether internally or externally with the world around us.
But Jacobi is not interested in any nostalgic notions of the past. She is interested in inciting viewers to think about their stories critically moving forward and to allow themselves to contemplate in the present.”
Saatchi Gallery Magazine’s Elliot Leiva wrote in 2019 of Jacobi's exhibition, Things of This World
Biography
Education
Residence
Chicago, Illinois
1987
Master of Fine Arts, Sculpture
Cranbrook Academy of Art
1985
Bachelor of fine Arts, Sculpture
Drake University, Des Moines, IA
2000
The Basic Program
University of Chicago
2010
Asian Classic Program
University of Chicago
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020-22
The Window Projects
Robin Richman/Chicago
2019
Nothing But Time
with Juan Manuel Fernandez
Northeastern Illinois University/Chicago
2018
Things of This World
Aron Packer Projects at Chicago Gallery News/Chicago
2015
The Last Hurrah
Packer Schopf Gallery/Chicago
2013
Context Art Miami
Represented by Packer Schopf Gallery
2012
Collective Bargaining
Packer Schopf Gallery/Chicago
2011
MDW Art Fair, Chicago
Represented by Packer Schopf Gallery
2010
Gleaners, Hawkers and Reapers
Packer Schopf Gallery/Chicago
2009
All That Remains
Packer Schopf Gallery/Chicago
2007
This is My Body: work in progress
MN Gallery/Chicago
2006
Her Tongue: corporal and textual examinations
International Museum of Surgical Science/Chicago
2024
Power of Place: 35 Years of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Existing is Political
CSI Project Space/Chicago
2020
Where’s the Revolution
Bridgeport Art Center
2018
Steamroller Prints at Publishers Fair
Chicago Printers Guild/Chicago
2018
Eco-Art
The Art Center Highland Park, Highland Park, IL
2017
Nasty Women Art
1100 Florence/Evanston, IL
2014
Rolled, Stoned & Inked:
25 years of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
DCASE Exhibitions, Expo 72, Chicago
2011
Guerilla Truck Show
Morlen Sinoway Atelier/ Chicago
2011
Walk in the Park
Burnham Hotel/ Hotel Palomar/Chicago
Benefitting the Trust for Public Land
2010
Art Loop Open
Block 37/Chicago
"Forgetting" awarded the 3Arts Prize
2007
The Artists Project
Chicago Merchandise Mart/Chicago
1990
The Chicago Show
City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs/ The Art Institute of Chicago/ Museum of Contemporary Art
The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center