David Jacobs is a painter and sculptor working in Brooklyn, NY. He was born in Los Angeles, California in 1986. He recieved an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and a BFA from the University of Southern California. David makes recognizable objects to explore how different cultures interpret the same information. However, in today’s globalized and interconnected world, these meanings tend to converge. His art embraces those convergences, but focuses on the dissimilar conclusions that different viewers can draw out of an image.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I’m a 29 year old New York transplant, originally from Los Angeles. I make paintings and sculptures of recognizable objects, relying on universal experience to guide the viewer into creating a narrative.

What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? I’m currently working on a series of trompe l’œil paintings of arbitrary objects I have come across recently, such as ant farms, etch-a-sketches and frames with stock photos inside. The result is to make paintings that function as their objects and thus act as sculptures. I’m also beginning a series of sculptures and installations that reflect Hollywood, where I grew up. I’ll be borrowing a lot of ideas from spaghetti western sets and natural history museum displays.

What is one of the bigger challenges you and/or other artists are struggling with these days and how do you see it developing? I think the biggest challenge for any artist is to continue to grow and push one’s boundaries. Its easy to stop challenging oneself once you find something that is succesful. This isn’t a new challenge, so I predict it will develop the same way it always has— some artists will succeed where others fail.

How did your interest in art begin? When I was still a little one, awkwardly gripping crayons. I was quite well known for drawing on the walls in restaurants and houses. I was immediately hooked to the feeling of dragging a utencil across a surface, and especially interested in the residue left behind. This inevitably led to me drawing on pretty much everything I could reach as I jumped from one medium to another over the years.

Favorite place to shop? The internet.

What artists are you interested in right now? Sean Landers, Jim Shaw, Cosima Von Bonin, Tyson Reeder, Charles Ray, Jeanne Silverthorne, David Kramer, Robert Gober, Donald Moffett, Trudy Benson, John Wesley, Nancy Shaver, Urs Fischer, Maurizio Catellan, Kate Steciw, Tom Friedman…

What do you collect? I like to collect interesting rocks. Also, I collect fossils.

What is your beverage of choice when working in your studio? Coffee in the winter, iced coffee in the summer.

What do you do when you’re not working on art? I like to hike, swim, cook and travel. My art is like an autobiography. Though it’s up to others to create a narrative, I choose which objects to make based off of what I experience in my own life. As such I’d say I’m always working on art.

Can you share one of the best or worst reactions you have gotten as a result of your work? A year ago I made a sculpture of a dead fish when I was at a residency in Singapore. I wanted to take it back to the states as a carry on. At screening I was detained and questioned because the airport security thought I was smuggling a real fish back with me! They had a good laugh and became much friendlier when they unpacked the work and saw it was made of resin and cement.