Review / Informed Opinions

 

January Issue 1999

 

Silent Voice of the Ancient Herb Jackson at Jerald Melberg Gallery in Charleston

A Review

 

by Lese Corrigan

 

Herb Jackson's recent paintings and works on paper constitute the first solo exhibit at the newly opened Jerald Melberg Gallery in the historic district of Charleston, SC. Jackson's expressionist abstractions on paper showed at the Halsey Gallery of The College of Charleston last December with the monotype work of Corrie McCallum. Jackson is a North Carolina native and professor of art at Davidson College with work in museum collections around the world. He is prolific especially for one who dedicates much of his time to teaching.

 

Herb Jackson comments that there is likely "form to the unknowable." It is possible to explore the known and unknown without using the "traditional" recognizable symbols - either visual or verbal. There is the implication we can explore and come closer to the unknown when we abandon, even fight against, the too known and acknowledged. This is what Jackson strives for in his work. Shaw Smith, in an essay for Jackson's 1993 catalogue, speaks of "witness(ing) truths which cannot be fully accounted for by words." Through the universality of search, of expression, of human experience, the removal of barriers of language and standardized symbols, Jackson has created powerful work that can serve as a guide.

 

The lack of imagery in artwork often raises the question as to whether imagery is needed for content to exist. Content does not mean already known; it just means something is there. How can one say there is no content just because of a lack of familiarity, of understanding or knowledge? If we consistently deal with that which is already understood and accepted, how will we ever go further or learn more?

 

Jackson and Shaw talk about gestures and body language that Shaw feels "awaken us to the spirituality of our physicality." Jackson describes his decisions and thought process as being without words. These then become pure action, movement that becomes frozen on the surface of the paper, canvas or board.

His paper imagery grabs and envelopes one with the sensation of depth, of being in a cave, of wordless communication such as that of early man. This is not to say that his images are like cave paintings but the cave - the essence of the cave - itself. There is the sense of being in the earth itself, or being surrounded by earth rubbed on stuccoed walls. The paintings are only illusions of depth with the muted greys and disconnected shapes which leave a feeling that the viewer is hovering outside the painting. The paper pieces are as collages of things superimposed, self contained, and ultimately intertwined while the paintings are shapes juxtaposed. With the small pieces one feels inside the mystery. In front of the paintings, there is a reaction of not being let in on the story in or of the paintings. The paper pieces have all the knowledge and communion of the universe within their borders. The paintings do not speak in the same manner.

 

Richness of color, texture, depth in the works speaks to the heart; perhaps it is to the soul. Jackson accomplishes a non-verbal gesture of communication that can be as powerful as the hush of the sun rising gloriously after days of rain and grey. Keith Jarrett has said that the late twentieth century populist choice is surface versus center - center that holds the knowledge is rejected as a non priority. Center that is needed for healing our world is rejected. Jackson seems to turn the surface inside out then digs through again - in essence searching and researching the center or true core by presenting to the viewer a textured, scratched, restructured surface.

 

In 1988, Donald Kuspit on Jackson's Dream of the Minotaur spoke of "the ambition to make every abstract gesture count...." Is not this the human goal of life - or ought to be - to make every moment, every wish, every action count? Kuspit also speaks of Jackson's "free expression of inner life" - these landscapes of the interior - surfaces of the soul of man - tales of the experiences of human kind in that ancient, mystical language that communicates all with no limitation. That language we know but cannot grasp and struggle to recreate with art.

 

Jackson's large paintings are acrylic on canvas often with materials added to enhance the texture. The small paintings are oil on board and his paper pieces consist of layered oil crayon. The paintings have titles however, the paper pieces are numbered with a "P" preceding the number. For the most part, the works are vertical. They vary in size from 8 inches by 8 inches to 84 inches square. Several shapes are repeated, notably the triangle and the pi. The triangle is considered the most spiritual shape of the basic elements and the most comfortable for physical balance. Pi being a constant and reminiscent of the ancient dolmans is also defined as a mixed, jumbled collection of printing type. Orange is the most consistently used color, it is lacking in very few of the pieces shown.

 

The paintings consist of jagged, sharper, pointed shapes but the paper pieces are softer forms. The paintings could easily be aerial, detached, views although the oil crayon works are intimate close views. Studying the work, many pieces of imagery come to mind - places, colors, movements, the crook of an arm as someone reaches for something, an African mask, rocks weathered with some moss or lichen growing in the crevices, hints of images which never existed. The paintings have titles and specific connections to places, things, experiences. One could feel left out of the story, uninformed, leaving frustration and confusion. There is a subtlety in the oil crayon works, a pastel quality in the large acrylic canvas works and a boldness in the oil paintings. The paper works seem more pushed, richer as in the distinction between a mark made with chalk left untouched and the same type mark rubbed.

 

Viewing these works from afar, the rich forms speak of knowledge, wisdom and experiences. Upon close examination there are overwhelming details, variations, textures and complexities. It is much more difficult to grasp the whole when viewing the details. It is as though one is trying to recall a dream which remains on the edge of consciousness upon waking. The more words are put to the dream, the more it shatters into small details with many unreachable parts.

 

P1315 is a strong piece that holds one's attention. It is dark and rich against explosive brights to the upper right of the work. The triangle is present just off center softened by rounded and broken lines. The sense of depth is strong - deep in history, in time and in visual positioning.

 

P843 is the simplest of the works shown. Sun and earth colors are more delicate by far than the oranges and yellows in the other works. It is comforting - nothing enclosed or pushed down. The yellow forms a triangle with the base to the heavens as though the earth tones were being purified as they moved upwards. One is reminded of Kandinsky's description in Concerning the Spirituality of Art of the triangle as a metaphor for the spiritual life and man's need for spiritual awakening. Jackson seems to be exploring this sense of spirituality by connecting with the ancient language through the gestures that create his surfaces and exploration of non imaged, non verbal communication. In such lies the power to bring us back to our core, bring us back to the hushed space of intuition - the ancient silent voice.

 

The Jerald Melberg Gallery, 8 Vendue Range, is closed Mondays. The Herb Jackson show runs through January 23.

 

Lese Corrigan is involved in the arts on many levels including creating, teaching, and consulting. She lives in Charleston, SC.

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