About Erik Jacobsen
I became passionate about art making from a very early age. A place of refuge and contemplation, that encouraged me to turn over ideas in visual ways allowing for intuitive integration and learning. A mix of meditation and exploration, my work is infused with spiritual and philosophical inquiry. Asking questions has always been a primary driver in my life, and various contemplative traditions have been parallel and complementary with my artistic process.
In 2008 I began a career in Tattooing which led me to drop representational figurative painting in pursuit of a medium in which one could express deeper, felt experiences. Tattooing allowed me the unique capacity to ‘converse with the canvas’ and have actual dialogue with my work. A reflective dialogue which would end when my work/client got up and walked out the door. It showed me a necessity to let go of the work and see that my integrity as an artist could be carried with it. This illuminated my needs for better communication skills, radical honesty, empathy and symbolic and historical knowledge, plunging me deeper into Meditation, Sacred Painting, Language, Culture and Art History.
The last twelve years of study has taken me deep within and exposed me to the core of my art making process and from it I have learned to look honestly at myself and use my art process as a reflective tool for the integration of experience. The majority of the Mandala series represents my exploration into Non Duality and the connection of Art as Inquiry. By dissolving the subject/object divide I began to discover that my Art practice is truly a process of healing and becoming Whole. Each piece is an artifact of a process of self discovery that peeled away another layer of separation, a process of liberation that truly never ends.b. 1976 Atlanta GA
Currently lives and works in Seattle WAEducation
BFA | Academy of Art University | San Francisco CA | 2002Solo Exhibitions
August 2005 | “Poppycock” | Café Royale Art Program | San Francisco CA
April 2005 | “In Cahoots” | Hang Art Gallery | San Francisco CA
April 2003 | "New Paintings” | Café Royale Art Program | San Francisco CAGroup Exhibitions
Sept 2006 | “Unframed” | Hang Art Gallery | San Francisco CA
April 2006 | “Flight Patterns” | Hang Art Gallery | San Francisco CA
April 2006 | “Tender is the Nob” | Hang Art Gallery | San Francisco CA
December 2004 | “12x12” | Café Royale Art Program | San Francisco CA
February 2004 | “Works on Paper” | Café Royale Art Program | San Francisco CA
January 2004 | Site Specific Installation | Café Royale Art Program | San Francisco CA
July 2003 | “Body Language” | Hang Art Gallery | San Francisco CA
May 2002 | “Spring Show” | Academy Of Art University | San Francisco CA
July 2001 | “2” | Squint Gallery | San Francisco CA
