Umbrian Self-Portrait from the collection of South Carolina Arts Commission

Umbrian Self-Portrait, 1987

oil on plexiglas

17 x 8 in

Jeffrey Day, arts writer, The State
Excerpted from an interview with John Jacobsmeyer, 1991

When people talk about John Jacobsmeyer’s work, they usually mention the cows. But Jacobsmeyer’s cows are not those of greeting cards and the Far Side... Jacobsmeyer learned about cows first hand on his father’s farm in New Hampshire. During his 30-year career in the Air Force, his major general father moved the family around the country. In 1969, he bought a ramshackle 200-year old farm house on 18 acres.

“I grew up partially in a suburban military base environment and partially on this farm where nothing grew, nothing was raised.” I see nature with a kind of aesthetic eye that only someone who is removed from nature living in a city would really see in it.”

In 1982, his father bought the first cows which he raises for breeding stock. The high tech nature of the farm also provided him with a dual vision that works with his urban-rural awareness. The farm is engaged in cryogenic breeding techniques which include freezing cattle sperm, ovum and embryos, and creating clones. “I use this whole environment to basically make allegorical paintings about our existence, about technology and about our relationship to nature, and the kinds of barriers we put between human beings and nature”.

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From South Carolina Arts Commission

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