carljacobson/ CultureofOne/ Fine Art Prints ▼

“Ancient Art has a specific inner content. At one time art possessed the same purpose that books do in our day, namely to preserve and transmit knowledge. In olden days people did not write books, they incorporated their knowledge into works of art. We would find a great many ideas in the works of ancient art passed down to us, if only we knew how to read them.” – G. Gurdjieff

This quote by Gurdjieff has stuck with me since reading it, although I’m sure the theory he’s proposing does not apply solely to ancient art; it can still be viable in the art and music of today.

How do we put the mystery into words? My experiences of life are trans-verbal and my art is my attempt to capture and transmit these experiences. Oftentimes a musical or artistic inspiration will come to me when I am grappling with a philosophical concept or a larger than life experience, or when I am dealing with emotional content that has not bubbled to my cognitive surface. I use my art as an integral lens for me to gain a different perspective on the experience and a means to better understand it by reflecting on my expression.

I think the purpose of art is connecting people…whether it’s the cessation of the subject/object duality that one feels when viewing a great work of art, or just simply the gestation of a new thought or emotion within the viewer’s psyche, something special happens in the “we-space” between the artist and the viewer. My art helps me connect with my authentic self, and my hopes are that by your viewing it, it will help us connect as well.

This is a selection of my artwork, my name is Carl Jacobson. I'm an artist from Weymouth, MA.