Features Editor

Jan. 10, 2000 11 PM

California artist Diana Jacob’s show, "Letter of the Law: Mixed Media on Canvas," will open at TSU’s Malone Gallery today but without the artist.

Exhibitions at Malone usually open with a lecture by the artist and a reception in his or her honor. However, a trip to Ireland prevented Jacob’s being available for the opening. A closing lecture and reception are planned for Thursday, Feb. 10.

"We are going ahead and open the month-long show at 4 p.m today and we invite everyone to visit the gallery and see Diana Jacobs mixed-media work," said Pam Allen, gallery director. "She incorporates collages, stencils, paints and different media in her work. Her collage-like effect is popular in California and should prove interesting to people here who like contemporary art."

Jacobs is a resident of Los Angeles and has worked as a zoological and botanical illustrator at Huntington Gardens in San Marion, Calif. She has also worked as an instructor at the Otis/Parson School in Los Angeles and has been an artist-in-residence in the Kala Institute in Berkeley. Her work has been displayed in solo exhibitions across the country.

Jacobs has received several awards including the Grambacher Award and the Art of California’s Magazine’s Discovery Award Gold Medal.

The work that will be shown at Malone is, in the words of the artist, "tactile, physical, sensual extensions of a living organism."

Jacobs said the exhibition more specifically addresses the overlay of what might be seen as the irrelevant codification of past events.

"It could be viewed as a visual representation of revisionist attitudes toward history, when it is the letters and not the spirit with which we become infatuated," she said.

Allen said visitors to Malone Gallery will be infatuated with the spirit of Jacob’s work which combines a variety of elements in large-scale canvas pieces.

Malone Gallery is open from 8 a.m until noon and 1- 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public is invited.