Storefront Takeover: Catherine Jacobi

In Celebration of  Women’s History Month, The CPC is proud to feature artist, Catherine Jacobi and her work, “The House That John Built” as part of our new ‘storefront takeover’ series. Catherine Jacobi has been a designer and sculptor for over 30 years. She is a longtime friend and resident of the CPC. Her work can be found in many private collections.

Visit the storefront exhibition 24/7 - the installation inspires dialogue and discussion, and makes a great destination for experiencing culture in the safest way possible!

Saatchi Gallery Magazine’s Elliot Leiva wrote in 2019 of her exhibition, Things of This World, “Catherine Jacobi’s [work] is a breath of fresh air; a well-received Sunday afternoon reading poetry, an evening at the museum visiting familiar pieces you have had a yearning to see.

The objects that dominate Jacobi’s work evoke the long-lasting memories that we have embedded in them. They remind us of the constancy of objects as anecdotal registries. The sculptural qualities of the work, much like Rauschenberg’s, confront the audience as objects in the world. Stylistically, the use of everyday objects parallels Duchamp’s ‘readymades’ — prioritising ideas over the visual example and expressing subjects of times past and the passing of time so inherent in our human existence, whether internally or externally with the world around us.

But Jacobi is not interested in any nostalgic notions of the past. She is interested in inciting viewers to think about their stories critically moving forward and to allow themselves to contemplate in the present.”

Artist Statement 

In 1969 my father (John) began building a doll house from mail order plans. For the most part he followed the plans, and the result was my surprise gift from Santa that year. Is it a girl’s dream, to have the awesome responsibility of a house and its upkeep. In 1974 I renovated the house using wall and carpet selections of our house at that time. This house, so like, but more perfect than my own. 50 years after initially receiving the dollhouse, I had the idea that I could reimage/rebuild the house the way I truly saw it — without any sense of disrespect and conversely to celebrate the continuum and history of its construction ­­— to marvel at the longevity of it ­— the putting together of pieces that so want to be together. The house was deconstructed and rebuilt into 4 structural fragments and a photo compilation of the original house. 5 pieces — a family — breaking apart the familiar, the known and reorganizing it for another look. - Catherine Jacobi