Gray Jacobik

I was born in Newport News, Virginia, USA, and live and work in Deep River, Connecticut, I am a studio artist whose practice is focused on abstract work (expressive and geometric) in acrylic, oil, encaustic and gouache as well as realistic oil and acrylic paintings (still life and landscape). I paint on linen, aluminum, MDF and cradled basswood panels, usually, but not always, in a square format. I have been most influenced by the work of Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and among contemporary painters, Emily Mason, Brian Rutenberg and Frank Bowling. Interpreting ideas abstractly excites my imagination, and my own excitement leads me to reason that what I paint might be of value to others. When I'm painting, I alter my gestures, colors, lines, overall composition, my rhythm, and my materials, in service of an aesthetic that's been evolving over a lifetime of visual experience.

I have great admiration for the Flemish and Dutch painters of the 17th century and several contemporary artists who follow in those august footsteps, such as Hank Helmantel and Lorena Kloosterboer. "What constitutes integrity in a work of art?" is one question that guides my inquiry, as does my deepest-felt objective: to creat...

Ph.D., Brandeis University, 1990.
M.A., Brandeis University, 1985.
B.A., Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont, 1976.
Courses in drawing, painting and design, Prince Georges Community College, University of Maryland and The Corcoran Museum of Art, and at the Lyme Art Association (pastel, oil painting), plus several workshops with various artists.

See my website for a full list of current and prior exhibitions and for more biographical information, etc.