New painting, "Alien Christ"

Rick Jacobi, Alien Christ, 18" x 24", acrylic on canvas panel, 2019

 



I've been thinking about this for many years.... If God "sent his son" to Earth, would God not also do the same thing on other planets with alien civilizations? I think that it would be quite likely, at least in some cases. Of course, it would not be the earthling known as Jesus, a.k.a. Yeshua; it would be some alien being with a name we probably could not pronounce. Alien beings on other worlds may or may NOT be humanoid; however, I have presented them as such, and given them they typical "gray alien" heads, and dressed the figures in typical "biblical clothing", just to make the image more understandable and iconic.

What do you think about this? I welcome your comments.

Note: this image was adapted from a painting by 19th century Danish painter Carl Bloch.

Quotes about my Paintings

Rick Jacobi, Bird Brain, 24" x 30", acrylic on canvas panel, 2017

Quotes from other people about my work:

On my painting "Deus Arcanum": "That piece is a cool mystical cartoon surreal alchemical opus. Well done. Applause, applause!"

-- Alex Grey

"Your art seems to exist on a wonderfully fuzzy line between a kind of controlled psychedelia and a sublime divine pattern organization."

-- Lewis Saul

On my painting "The Oracle": "Disturbingly fascinating, amazingly grotesque, yet utterly elegant."

-- Gwen Carr

"Rick, your art is spectacular-- divined, a calling from another universe, a deep place."
-- Skip Davis

"Rick Jacobi’s unique artistic voice resounds far above the ubiquitous chorus of psychedelic monotony and meaningless abstraction. His deep affinity with the ancient mysteries emerges in a most delectable way through his vibrant palette and fine technique. For every step the deconstructionists took toward abandoning decency and forsaking technique, Rick takes 10 steps closer to honesty and attention to detail. He elucidates our strange predicament on this strange planet and his critically important imagery challenges his admirers and peers alike."

-- Sean Allum / Eloh Projects

New painting, "I AM"

I AM, 18" x 24", acrylic on canvas panel
© Rick Jacobi 2015

The title of this painting refers to God's reply to Moses when Moses asks God what his name is. God, appearing as a burning bush, tells Moses that his name is "I Am That I Am" (also translated as "I Will Be What I Will Be").

There are a number of symbols in this painting. I have used the alchemical/tarot symbols for fire (upward-pointing red triangle) and water (downward-pointing blue triangle); these of course also represent male/female. Earth and air are also present, rounding out the four basic elements of alchemy and tarot. While this is not an image of a seraph, the six wings could be somewhat suggestive of that. The snakes form a vesica piscis. The glyphs on the winged triangle spell out "I AM" in "Enochian script", as developed by the 16th century English occultist John Dee. The eye in the triangle is often referred to as "the all-seeing eye". It has recently in popular culture become pretty well-known as a symbol of the Illuminati. However, it has historically been known as the eye of God, and is referred to as the Eye of Providence by the Freemasons.

We also see a number of UFOs in this painting-- this refers to the possibility of extraterrestrial "help" in the creation of life on earth, particularly human life. There is a mysterious glyph on the bottom-- this is something I came up with a while back-- it does not have a specific meaning that I am aware of, but it's one of those things that the viewer can "read into". I think it may have to do with the expansion and reaching out of the creative force, or something like that, which would make sense given the theme of this painting.

And finally, the eye in the center: this was not part of my original sketch, but it came to me late in the process. When it hit me, it totally made sense-- this radiant eye represents the all of everything that exists, the universal creator, a.k.a. God.

The Oracle

The Oracle, acrylic, 24" x 30", 2013

This is my most recent painting, completed on November 1, 2013.

Hidden Currents of the Deep

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Hidden Currents of the Deep is my most recent painting. Below you can see the progression of this piece from start to finish, including various stages of sketches.

(click on images for a larger view)

Hidden Currents of the Deep, 24" x 30", acrylic on canvas board, 2012.

As with my other recent paintings, I'm trying to develop my work with as little conscious thought as possible, attempting to connect with the hidden currents of the deep waters of my unconscious mind. The result of this is that although I may have at least some sense of what these paintings are about, they are in large part a mystery to me. This is what I find so intriguing about this way of working, and what has been the main driving force in the production of my art over the last few years.

Sequence of Sketches

The first sketch was done with Prismacolor sticks on newsprint. I'm using a method I refer to as "blind ambidextrous symmetrical drawing"; meaning that I draw with both hands, eyes closed, in a more or less symmetrical manner. This is the part where I attempt to be as unconscious as possible of what my hands are doing.

The drawing is photographed and brought into Photoshop, where the right side is selected, copied, and flipped to make the drawing totally symmetrical. I stare at this for some time, and wait for things to begin to reveal themselves to me. I then proceed and develop the drawing, using a custom "brush" (in Photoshop) and a Wacom Intuos tablet. It goes through several stages, and then gets colored. I attempt to work very freely and intuitively throughout this whole process.

Sequence of Painting

The sketch is printed and, using a grid, the drawing is started with pencil on the canvas board. The pencil is then painted over with black, and a transparent red goes over the whole thing. Various shades of blue are added. Finally, all that remains is a large number of hours of meticulous detailed rendering.

What I'm finding these days is that although in a conceptual sense I've moved a LONG way away from my commercial illustration days, I'm still using a lot of the painting chops that I developed during that period of time. So, in a way, it's kind of like the best of both worlds.
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Hidden Currents of the Deep

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New digital sketch. Click on the image for a larger view.


Jacobi, Hidden Currents of the Deep

New Painting: Vesica

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Jacobi, Vesica, 18" x 24", acrlylic, 2011

(click on images for larger view)

This painting uses as its inspiration the Vesica Piscis, which is comprised of the intersection of two circles with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each circle lies on the circumference of the other. (Wikipedia) The Vesica Piscis has mystical significance in a number of areas-- Christianity, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, "sacred geometry", and more.

This painting has deep meaning for me personally. What exactly that is, I can't really put into words. Much of how I relate to this painting takes place at the subconscious level; in my conscious mind, I'm not sure that I fully understand it. This is what drives me to paint images like this. It's like meditation, therapy, and a search for spiritual and metaphysical understanding all rolled into one. 

Below you will find the process I went through to arrive at the final image. The sketches were done in Photoshop with a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet.

 

If you like this painting, you might enjoy taking a look at my paintings Nava Yoni, and The Opener of the Way.

Nava Yoni

New painting, just finished. (click on the image to enlarge)


Jacobi, Nava Yoni, 18" x 24", acrylic, 2009

The progression of this painting from original sketch can be seen here.