Jonathan LeVine Projects is pleased to present Great Feats and Defeats, an exhibition of work by John Jacobsmeyer in what will be his debut solo show at the gallery.

John Jacobsmeyer’s oil paintings depict a world made of plywood where competitors push the limits of human capability while engulfed by the intricate patterns and tones of timber. Inspired by videogame play and the subculture of American “geekdom” that revolves around gaming culture, Great Feats and Defeats depicts imaginative experiences that analyze contemporary digital modes of representation.

Jacobsmeyer has had a unique fascination with wood since his childhood when he’d visit his grandparents pine cabin during summer vacation. He describes, “Rotary sawn pine plywood is cheap yet durable and along with being used as sub-flooring and fencing for construction sites, it’s also the material twelve-year-old children will use to build clubhouses in the woods where they’ll rule their own kingdoms, wage wars and rebuild bigger and wilder each time.” However, this nostalgic fantasy life in the woods has been replaced by the seductive narratives of video games. Great Feats and Defeats, attempts to answer the question, if time were reversed and analog followed digital, if plywood clubhouses were made in order to bring video game narratives into the real world, how would that look? How would that story play out?”

Paradoxically, this new body of work is all created on a base of aluminum. Following the teachings of Renaissance and Baroque masters, Jacobsmeyer implements a complex technique of layering translucent paint to create hyperreal wood environments that highlight his fascination with the virtual world.