Artists statement

Robert Jacks is widely acknowledged as one of Australia’s most important and accomplished abstract artists. Jacks studied sculpture at Prahran Technical College from 1958–60 and painting at RMIT in 1961–62. In 1968 his work was included in the landmark exhibition, The Field, at the National Gallery of Victoria. Jacks often worked across various mediums simultaneously producing sculpture, painting and works on paper which directly informed one another. Bookending his career, in 2014, the year he died, Jacks’ practice received renewed attention when the National Gallery of Victoria mounted the major retrospective exhibition Robert Jacks: Order and Variation, in which he played a pivotal role.

This work is from the Metropolis series that drew on his experience living in Manhattan, as well as the view from his balcony in Lavender Bay, Sydney. From the balcony he could see the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with cars, buses and trains, as well as ships on the harbour and planes in the sky, all coming from different directions, reminding him of the futuristic images in Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film of the same name. A rhythm charting the ebb and flow of activity throughout each day is discernible within the series and the long triangular forms, like arrow heads, that represent the modern freeway are a constant throughout.