Robert Jacks
Art World April/May 2008
Kerrie Davies
Is Jacks an English name?
It’s actually Scottish. My great-grandfather came to work for the railways in Victoria in the 19th century and I grew up in Melbourne. I’ve never been to Scotland, and I’m not sure I’d like to go...
Did you come from an artistic family?
I was unusual in the family. I don’t think any of the artists I went to school with were encouraged by their families – the art industry didn’t exist. But I went to art school at RMIT – at 14 – and I felt instinctively that was where I should be. It was a bit like an epiphany, and a very stimulating time.
Fred Williams was a mentor to you early in your career. How did he help you?
A group of us would go to exhibitions with him on Friday afternoons. On Friday nights John Perceval would drive me to the pub behind the National Gallery of Victoria where all the artists in Melbourne met, and sometimes on Saturdays I’d meet with John Brack.We were fortunate to have their encouragement. When you’re starting out as an artist you sometimes feel lost, but Williams always said you’ll find your way if you keep doing what you’re doing.
Why did you decide to go to New York?
Melbourne at that time was very conservative and insular, so an enormous amount of Australians felt they had to leave. I was encouraged by the older generation (of artists) to go to London as they had all gone, but I was determined to go to New York. I was influenced by American art and I loved American jazz. New York was another epiphany. I was married at the time and we had a loft in Chelsea, then we moved to SoHo: you were allowed to stay in the factory spaces if you could prove you were an occupied artist. I drew ads for a furniture company called Bon Marche to subsidise my income – I was selling paintings in Australia but it wasn’t enough to live on. After I’d been there for a couple of years I was included in a group show at the New York Cultural Center, and through that I met a lot of my peers. I ended up staying for ten years – from 1968 to 1978.
How did your experiences in New York influence your practice?
I made a choice between following Willem de Kooning and Barnett Newman. I chose Newman because of the flatness of his work, and instinctively that was the way I wanted to paint. He was very generous with his time, so he was a mentor to me as well as an
inspiration.
Why did you return to Australia?
Change is important… after all, Monet left Paris! I was offered an artist-in-residency position at Melbourne University, so I came back. And I was pleased to find the city’s culture had changed – there were a lot more artists and galleries. Then the National Gallery of Australia bought my work – that was very encouraging! Going from one scene to another is refreshing, and it gives you energy. I think as an artist you always need to move; I often used to exchange studios with John Firth Smith in Sydney. Although you’re largely an abstract painter, musical instruments figure strongly in your work.
What is it that paticularly appeals to you about the guitar and cello?
When CDs came onto the market, music that had been unavailable for years was suddenly re-released. I bought CDs of the records we played in my student years, including the Miles Davis Sketches of Spain album and all these memories came flooding back. I went to my parent’s house and in the garage I found my small paintings from when I was a teenager. A guitar has the shape of a voluptuous woman and I was obsessed with music and sex, as most teenagers are. Unfortunately my parents had thrown out all my large works, so I reinvented the works that were left.
Can you describe how your paintings come about?
I draw up a formal grid and then I destroy it with a palette knife. I push the shapes and colours around until they become lush. If I think they’re too elaborate I pare it down again, then build once more. It’s backwards and forwards…
What is behind the works in your current exhibition at Tim Olsen Gallery?
I was inspired by my Red Painting being exhibited at the Tarrawarra Museum of Art (Yarra Valley,Victoria) – it was on the cover of Art & Australia in 1968, and I wanted to see what made it so sustainable. Every ten years I’ll come back to the grid as a discipline and do that for a couple of years until I hate it, and move on. Then I do it all again a decade later…
What do you like to read?
James Joyce’s Ulysses is my bible – I read bits of it all the time. It’s a literary collage so it’s influenced my work as well as that of many other artists – I exhibited in Dublin during the centennial of Ulysses in 2004. I also want to read the third volume of John Richardson’s A Life of Picasso that was reviewed in the last issue of Art World.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If I had the energy and money I’d like to set up a loft in New York again and have another stab at it. I don’t want to go to a place that’s just a beach – I have no interest in holidays. I like to go and work somewhere. For most artists the fun is the work.
Finally, if you could live with any work of art ever made, what would it be?
Picasso’s Guernica. That was the first painting in the Paris School in the Museum of Modern Art in New York… it would give you that buzz!
Exhibition: Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney, 1–20 Apr
Thanks to Art World magazine