Colour reading and Contexture – Jacob Dahlgren
The syntax of Constructivism, minimalism and particularly Op art are all referred to in Jacob Dahlgren’s multiform constructions and installations. Despite their highly formal nature they are playful representations of the childs mind embarking on the building-block adventure – a methodical arrangement of objects conceived via a human sorting algorithm.
‘Colour reading and contexture’ sees a large space covered with piles of coloured wood blocks, tiles, pieces of chocolate, cuts of carpet, and plastic cubes among many other things. The objects co-exist in subtle colour-groupings to produce a virtual cityscape – the simple rotational offsets, while random also remind us of computation and a randomness within predefined limits.
’I, the world, things, life’ consists of an arrangement of dartboards that reference op art and its fascination with hypnotic visuals effects. Visitors to the work can interact by throwing darts at the piece.
A key motif running through Dahlgren’s work is the most austere of abstract markings – the stripe! He has apparently collected hundreds of t-shirts and other items of clothing, photographs of buildings with striped markings, indeed the t-shirts form the basis of one of his works.