GREGORY JACOBSEN: "Balm of Body, Spice of Flesh" New Paintings, Video & Sculpture

Zg Gallery is pleased to present Gregory Jacobsen's solo exhibition, “Balm of Body, Spice of Flesh”. Jacobsen’s new paintings continue to take root where schadenfreude meets Sigmund Freud.  As he delights in the spectacle of failure and the triumph of the id, his work is inspired by what he views as the ridiculousness and uselessness of human frailty, vanity, and sexuality.  He wallows in the nightmare of aging, disease, deformities and perversions, as he lovingly delineates every wrinkle, mutation and hair-sprouting mole of the unique individuals that inhabit his work.

Jacobsen states "I paint figures, focusing on the little bits that obsess me...a little flab hanging over a waistband, ill-fitting shoes, overbites, noses, teeth, and flesh.  Either through portraiture or busy tableaux, I create a world and vocabulary of characters that live and embrace their so-called faults. T he work is absurd, grotesque, and a bit brutal, but I try to bring the viewer in with lush and glowing surfaces, creating a disorientating and hilarious balance of revulsion and attraction."

Gregory Jacobsen attended the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, and has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Paris & Berlin.  He is a member of the locally acclaimed collective known as “Lovely Little Girls” and has been reviewed in The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, Time-Out Chicago, Hi-Fructose and Art Ltd. magazine. “Balm of Body, Spice of Flesh” will be on view in the main gallery from July 14th through August 26, 2017.