Sjer Jacobs: 'working isn’t a punishment’

- Sjer Jacobs (1963) -

“I create people: not an idealistic image but people just as they are, with every blemish.” Artist Sjer Jacobs (1963) continues to find inspiration in that one theme. His scrawny statues in ceramic are the best known, even though he works with as much pleasure using other techniques: canvas, bronze, molten glass. But they are always people. “They continue to fascinate me. Put two children in a room and I could paint for a year because of what they do or don’t do.”

“Sjer” is written in large letters on the wall of the spacious premises on the main road through Tegelen. Rebuilding has just finished and through the window we can see the final touches being made to the interior. According to Sjer Jacobs, the gallery shows the world alternated with works from some artist friends. Variety, Sjer thinks, strengthens one another. Inside we are greeted in a friendly manner by unusual little folk: statues with scrawny bodies and sometimes with peculiar proportions, paintings with eyeless faces on brightly coloured backgrounds. The not so flatteringly portrayed people form Sjers “family”. The artist receives his clients every Saturday afternoon into this special world. And at the same time, he acknowledges, he takes the opportunity to observe them. “My statues evoke something in people - a laugh or an emotion. It is as if a mirror is held in front of them and they recognise something. There is also always someone who gives the statue a name. The ceramics I create are a part of your family. You can also purchase a beautiful torso but nobody would consider it as family.”

“I can look at people without embarrassment, even though I am not fully aware of doing so. After all, there is always something new to see in people,” Sjer explains following my question on his sources of inspiration. He points out to me how many different poses I have taken in our talk. “Each pose is a starting point for me in a painting. That’s how I come to my themes: I go to people and look at their behaviour and their environment. If I want to do something with horse racing then I go to a race track to watch and for a statue group of an orchestra I go to a rehearsal. From a musician’s posture and gestures you can often see which instrument he or she plays. It’s those typical characteristics that I use.” For the layout of a city square he photographs day trippers on a bench. He creates the same pose in three bronze statues. “Those statues are archetypes of the seated person. Whoever sits next to such a statue often takes the same pose without being aware of it. You simply see it take place as you walk past.” Despite the tremendous familiarity, Sjer’s work has noticeably evolved in recent years.

The statues have become more dynamic: arms, pointing fingers and movement. In his paintings we see more contrasts. In place of uniform areas of colour, we now clearly see the brushstrokes, and the canvases have gained more background colours. Walking through the gallery we also see not only paintings and ceramics but also materials such as glass, bronze or wire and combinations of those. In this way he maintains the excitement for himself, said Sjer. He discovers new materials and processing techniques and he applies them, with passion and preferably without too much knowledge of matters. “I actually don’t want to know how a particular technique works; otherwise I would walk the beaten track. I cast tin like others cast bronze. Sometimes I do things that according to the experts shouldn’t be possible. And it only needs to go right once. If I want to make a whole series of statues from molten glass, probably nineteen of the twenty would break. But for me it is about that one.”

The greatest obstacle for Sjer is time, or rather the lack of it. “I have always more ideas that I am able to produce. There are simply too few hours in a day. Being an artist is my life’s fulfilment. Sitting in front of the television or going on holiday means nothing to me, even though I intended to take more rest when I turned forty. Working isn’t a punishment; it is the way I have set up my life. I am always busy with at least ten things at once and everything I see again inspires me to start something new. And that’s often where solutions are found for projects that have been put to one side.” When asked about his dreams he becomes quiet for a while. Then: “I am a great enthusiast of baroque. The artists in those times had a total concept. That’s the way I would like to create an area, totally at my discretion, a house or a square, with everything that stands in it. The space that is there, that’s what you have to work with.”

Sjer keeps any further dreams to himself. They can be found in his workshop and that is not open to the public. “I would rather show visitors my bedroom than my workshop. A few years ago, when I bought a new house, the deciding factor was that there should be a beautiful room to work in. The house still needs to grow, it must still become a part of me but I don’t consider that so important. I become attached not to a place or to objects, but to the privacy of my workshop. That’s where my thoughts are, the things that didn’t work, the ideas I’m busy with. That’s where my dreams are.”

http://www.sjerjacobs.com/

Sjer Jacobs’ work is for sale in the Leolux-Design-Centers and visitors center Via Creandi.