Biennial Artist: A. Jacob Galle
Run Time: 3:55
A. Jacob Galle (United States, born 1978). Untitled [cubicle], 2005, digital video, 6:22. Lent by the artist.
Being born in Maine and growing up on a sheep farm here, I quickly learned about the land and hard work. Both carry much weight in my artistic practice which intertwines the themes of landscape and labor. A sense of meditation comes from both-whether it is the repetition in work or just being and walking in the land. I examine physical labor to create a sense of respect towards work. There is nothing romantic about farming or rural life. I feel the physicality of work gets lost in today’s world where such labor is unfamiliar to many or looked upon as blue-collar, dirty, even archaic.
Some days I am a farmer. Other days I am an artist. At times I am a nomad, a woodsman, a documenter, or a builder. Often the lines are blurred. These roles shape my thinking and understanding as a human being. I’m no longer interested in making an object but would rather draw attention to a process, an idea of respect or honor, and an ephemeral action, one that we can all relate to in some form.
I create work sporadically. I don’t have a studio in the traditional sense. Over the past four years I have been nomadic-living in one place for no longer then six-months at a time, traveling from agricultural jobs to artist residencies. Ideas and projects are often influenced by the specific landscapes where I find myself: the frozen woods and coast of Maine, warehouses in Omaha, the mountains of Wyoming, the suburbs of Hartford, the industrial districts of Milwaukee, the farm fields of Virginia, or any of the vast number of roads in the middle. These new surroundings become by studio. I then think about the kind of work that people do or did in these areas. The histories and traditions of a city, town, or landscape play an important role in my artistic practice, influencing the performance actions I take on and physically endure.