“Before I begin a painting, I try to be as blank as the raw canvas. Of course I bring to the act of painting years of experience that will shape to a degree the end result, but I remain open to the direction that the painting will suggest as it becomes a more active participant in the process. I build up and scrape away the paint in many layers. (…) As the painting progresses, forms, marks, signs and gestures begin to appear from within, and they may last for twenty or so layers, or be gone during the application of the next layers. Some survive to become part of the painting’s surface (…). At a certain point, usually weeks into the life of a painting, the canvas will begin to exert more influence over the direction I must take, and at that point, it is often unclear where I stop and the painting begins. We are as one in the effort to make this new presence manifest. (…) For me, painting is an act of meditation. By doing it daily, I am made re-aware of the unity of all things. I consider my work as part of nature, rather than a statement about nature, and as such, I would not be surprised to enter a deep forest and find one of my paintings among the trees.”
The author of these words and the artist of the painting we celebrate here as a recent acquisition is Herb Jackson, one of North Carolina’s most distinguished contemporary artists. A 1970 graduate of the University’s MFA program and long-time professor of painting at Davidson College, Jackson is well-known and admired for his expressive, boldly composed abstractions that reward long and slow contemplation of their rough, textured surfaces. The title of this fine example, Lost Empire, appropriately evokes mysterious realms, the weathering of ages, and the archaeological excavation of fragments. As the painting is on view at the Ackland until September 1, you are all invited to experience its power for yourselves.
Image credit:
Herb Jackson, American, born 1945, Lost Empire, 1999, oil on canvas, 54 × 42 in. (137.2 × 106.7 cm). Gift of James B. Congleton III DDS, MS, 2024.10.2. © 1999 Herb Jackson.
