Junk Mail as Art
Hedwige Jacobs at Art League Houston
Hedwige Jacobs is a Dutch artist working in Houston. Her specialty is drawing. I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that I wasn’t really aware of her work until I saw The Inside of Envelopes at the Art League, which opened on December 16. I say embarrassed because her CV has her earliest exhibits in Houston all the way back in 2007, at the late, lamented CTRL Gallery. She has been producing drawings and animations for decades, since at least the mid-90s. As an observer who has made a serious effort to observe the art scene in Houston very closely since 2009, not knowing about Jacobs is a serious failure on my part.
This exhibit is modest in the sense of not being very big, but it shows a staggering level of drawing ability. And Jacobs’ drawing is on the humblest of surfaces. What Jacobs does is take security envelopes, unfolds them, and draws on the insides. Her drawings respond to the patterns already printed on them. Security envelopes have patterns printed on the inside to make it difficult to determine what is in them from the outside. They were invented to defer thieves from stealing checks or other valuable documents that were being mailed. They feel a little obsolete now—who gets checks in the mail anymore? But we all still occasionally get official documents in the mail, and they almost always come to us inside security envelopes. And Jacobs uses the patterns that security envelopes have printed inside them as the starting point for her lighthearted drawings.
The drawings are mostly of abstracted figures in silhouette, sometimes crowds of them, sometimes just one or two. They are usually in motion, which she carries even further by animating them.
By using security envelopes as part of her medium, she may be making a commentary about how the use of mail is declining in our electronic age or commenting on the bureaucratic world in which we all live. But whatever meaning security envelopes have for Jacobs is not obvious in the work. It is easier just to see a delight on her part in drawing and responding to the patterns printed inside the envelopes.
The exhibit has two parts. One the south-facing hallway wall is a blizzard of unfolded security envelopes, covered with drawings.
On the opposite wall, a video of delightful animations done on this strange surface plays in a loop. The silhouetted figures seem ideal for animating with brief bursts of activity. I took a video of Jacob’s video with my phone, so I apologize for its low quality. Fortunately, you can see more of Jacobs’ video on Vimeo.
I don’t have much to say about her work, beyond expressing my delight in her drawing and animation. The Inside of Envelopes is pure pleasure.
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Top notch stuff! Some of those silhouetted multi-limbed figures remind me of old Mark Flood drawings back when he was Perry Webb. But her stuff is much more thoughtful.
Great article. I have been following her for years. Checkout her large animation currently at Rice Moody Center for the Arts. Visit in the evening at Alumni Drive