Jacob Hartman

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Head

In his latest work, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Head, Hartman creates an on-site sculpture/video installation. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Head takes the form of a large hanging sphere that has collected on its surface pieces of debris, technological detritus, and cultural compost. Developed in residency at PICA, the work is a composite of objects made from rudimentary sculpture materials (plaster, wood, metal, and casting compound), mixed with video production and presentation equipment (video projectors, lights, scrim, gaffer tape, video mixers, computers, cables, video screens, and live feed cameras). The video projections and monitors feature video shot on location and taken from multiple other sources as well as hybrid compositions created when the viewer comes into camera range. As in previous works, the mechanisms of production are an integral part of the final presentation. Hartman’s interest lies in cataloging a trajectory of a work coming into existence, where the moment of completion is never quite clear.

Hartman lives and works in New York. He studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and received his MFA from Bard College in New York. His installations, video work, sculpture and paintings have been shown nationally, with recent exhibitions at CRG Gallery (NY), Drew College (NJ), The Living Room (Art Basel, Miami Beach), and New Langton Arts (CA). His work was included in Rapper’s Delight at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (CA) and SUPERNATURAL at PICA (OR). Hartman’s work has been written about on Artforum.com, and in the New Art Examiner. His performance work was featured in the 1999 catalogue for Bay Area Now at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (CA) in 1999. He has been a resident at Skowehegan School of Art and was the winner of the Bay Area Awards in 2000 for a performance at New Langton Arts.

The commission and exhibition of this piece is supported in part by the Kristy Edmunds Fund for New Work.