Jake X On View Gallery
Jake Lee’s work, “Fear! On the Western Front!”, is a colorful, layered and complex source of symbolism and imagery. Intended perhaps as a metaphor for military & war and the American disposition for both. What at first hits the eye as a welcomed patriotic love-of-country, as the layers are peeled back, stings.
I knew I wanted to showcase Jakes work because it seemed one thing: accurate. I grew up in a house that refused Barbies to avoid complexes but armies of GI Joes were embraced. These toys we grew up with became beloved pieces of plastic, ingrained in our American life. Words like hero and freedom were cherished propaganda and my brother and I always made sure, by the end of the day, we had won.
Obviously, life is more complex and layered than simple childhood games. And in growing up, I’ve gotten to know several true-to-life GI Joes. Real humans of living, breathing flesh that have their own emotions and reactions. Even in simply listening to their complex tales of reality, a giant shadow falls over innocent things.
Band of Brothers was playing on Memorial Day and in one particular scene it was said, “It’s a game Blythe, that’s all man. We’re just moving the ball forward one yard at a time. Nothing but a game”. It’s been said before but I will echo it because it’s true. There are no winners.
Jake was gracious enough to grant us answers (sans studio tour) to help understand the context for his work, his curiosities about the defining quality war has on man and the intricacies of how war represents our country’s values.
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Q.) Bright colors and nostalgic imagery pulls the viewer in in an engaging way, but on closer inspection, you seem to have a different message to your work than just patriotism and propaganda. Can you speak to that?
A.) I am interested in how this imagery is used to define ideas of masculinity and heroism. How as a member of society, killing and vulgarity makes you a ‘man’ or someone who is making sacrifices for the collective whole by taking the lives of others. I am interested in control and occupancy these figures have in the world and also how they represent our countries values.
Q.) This work is very personal to you. Can you explain how you decided to approach the work?
A.) Speaking to a personal narrative is always a difficult thing to approach. I think for me that is when the use of comics, cartoons, and pop culture come into play. The imagery is familiar without being too personal and the viewer brings their own relationship to the imagery. Seeing as the last 20 years the U.S. has had occupancy in the middle east, I feel most viewers have a relationship to the war, soldiers, and recruiting that they are bringing to the work. Through this I think it’s easier to find common ground in the narrative.
Q.) Did you find the process healing or cathartic at all?
A.) I think so yea. For me, it made me stare down a time in my life I kind of wanted to forget or wash away. It made me reflect and ask more questions and I think that was helpful instead of trying to just forget it. It also made me reflect on my own upbringing and where my obsession and desire came from to want to enlist and be a soldier.
Q.) Was there anything about technique that was new or different to you. Any challenges you hit or growth you attained from working on this series?
A.) This series was a huge learning experience. Before I started making this body of work, I primarily worked in large editions, very clean, traditional printmaking. With this series I started working more painterly. I essentially just created a vocabulary of imagery to pull from and would do so to create the work. I approached the work more spontaneous and less calculated. I think this opened up the opportunity to have more dialogue with the work, its direction, and my own intuition.
Q.) What’s next for you, with the art world looking different to navigate these days?
A.) I am moving back to Kentucky at the end of summer. I just finished up my MFA at the university of Iowa and was hired on to teach printmaking and 2d design at Berea College, a small liberal arts college in the Appalachian Mountains. Luckily, this will give me access to printmaking equipment. I am planning on making more fullsheet (22” x 30”) prints for this series and would like to incorporate more relief printing in them. Working spontaneously allows me to create 4-5 at a time and in doing so I am constantly learning so much about their compositional elements and concept. I also have plans for a new series of textile based works and an installation, but those ideas are still a little young to speak further on.