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“Make them look. Make something new.”

Follow artist Robert Jacoby on his recent exploration of abstraction and the phases of creative dialogue in his new exhibit DIVERSE ARRAY. The show will be on view at City Gallery from September 4 - September 27 with an Opening Reception on Sunday, September 6, 1-4 p.m.

Regardless of style — abstract or the artist’s continuing affection for portraiture — Jacoby’s approach to painting moves through several phases. As he explains: “It begins with extensive silent dialogue with a blank canvas, searching for direction, emphasizing instinct and advice Mark Rothko gives to his apprentice in the biographical play Red, ‘Make them look. Make something new.’”

A promising idea begets commitment, assessment, and modification until his intuition says Stop. At which point, he says, there are four possible outcomes, “one, completion is confirmed; two, modification is explored, which may include helpful critiques from my colleagues at City Gallery; three, a selected passage is extracted (by knife) and mounted as a revised piece; or four, the entire work is discarded.”

Welcome to the mind of an artist!

Robert Jacoby is an academic veterinary pathologist, retired from the faculty of the Yale School of Medicine since 2004. He also has been an active artist since the mid-1980s. He moved from figurative drawing and painting to abstraction in 2010 to explore “duende,” the Dionyssian force driving flamenco dancers, singers and intrumentalists to inspired performance. This change favored stylistic diversity over consistent “voice;” a priority he has followed ever since. He has exhibited throughout Connecticut and is a member of City Gallery, the Guilford Art League, and a Director-at-Large of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club. 

The exhibit DIVERSE ARRAY and the Opening Reception are free and open to the public. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org, www.city-gallery.org.

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of Director of Charitable Planning.

The application deadline is August 14, 2026.

For more information and to apply, click here.