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The Arts Intel Report

Bill Jacklin: Towards the Light

Bill Jacklin, Towards Battersea Bridge I, 2006.

July 21 – Sept 15, 2023
6 Albemarle St, Mayfair, London W1S 4BY, United Kingdom

Born in 1943, the London-born and New York-based artist Bill Jacklin has decidedly not stuck to any one medium or style. In the 1960s, Jacklin studied graphic design and printmaking at the Walthamstow School of Art. For one assignment, thinking of his father’s breakdown after returning from W.W. I, he arranged saluting soldiers in a wooden box and treated them with acid. “I was interested in the progress of time,” Jacklin would reflect, “the dissolution of the figure and the process of change.” Soon an interest in light and movement pushed him toward figuration. Jacklin moved to New York City in 1985, and painted busy streets in which the shadows are as omnipresent as people. In a wide-ranging practice, he’s remained interested in breaking things down—whether into parts or dichotomies—and honoring the energy of shadows. —Clara Molot

Photo: Marlborough Galleries