David L. Jacobs (TX) Essays in China and Taiwan
Space Preference: Museum, Commercial Gallery, Artist Space
Artist Statement I have been a photographer for over thirty years, but twenty years ago, when I began to publish articles on photographic history and theory, edit a journal, and curate exhibitions, I found that pursuing my own photography was not wholly compatible with these other roles. However, during the year I spent in Taipei on a Fulbright fellowship (2003-2004) I became highly involved in making photographs again, and in the three years since I have photographed extensively in Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, and the PRC with the idea of producing a book of images and writings on Asia.
The ten images presented in this portfolio were made in Taiwan and China during and after the Fulbright year. I was not particularly interested in making a coherent statement or portfolio -- the sort of thing, ironically, that I encourage our Art school students to strive for. Rather, I explored Taiwan and China with the widest possible lens alongside a largely undefined agenda. Partly because I was a cultural outsider who didn’t speak Mandarin, I found that visual thinking was especially important. Some of these images juxtapose the old with the new, some record events in the teeming streets and night markets, and still others were made in and around temples and in the mountains. These pictures, for me, are visual essays in the classic, heuristic sense of the word.
The exhibition will include 20-30 prints in 16x20 frames. All images were made between 2003 and 2006 in Taiwan or the Peoples Republic of China. All are either digital grabs or scanned film exposures, and all are printed digitally.
Captions
David L. Jacobs, Brides # 1, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Taiwan, 2004.
David L. Jacobs, Ching Lotus, Forbidden City, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Beijing, 2004.
David L. Jacobs, Golden Dragon Temple, 11x14 digital grab, Yangmingshan Mountains, Taipei, 2003.
David L. Jacobs, Lungshan Temple, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Taipei, 2003.
David L. Jacobs, Butcher Display, Taipei Nightmarket, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Taipei, 2003.
David L. Jacobs, Scooter Snoopy(s), 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Taipei, 2004.
David L. Jacobs, Suzhou Portal, 11x11 digital grab, Suzhou, PRC, 2006.
David L. Jacobs, Taoist Temple, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Taipei, 2004.
David L. Jacobs, Wedding Guest, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Pingyao, PRC, 2004.
David L. Jacobs, Zoo Boy, 11x14 scanned 35mm negative, Taipei, 2004.
