About Jacob Blackaller

Jacob Blackaller is a graduate of Fine Art from Kingston School of Art, and is currently enrolled in the MFA in Sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, where he received the Felix Slade Scholarship in 2018. For the past year, Blackaller has been the appointed artist in residence at UCL EAST (2019–2020). He has received various other prizes, including the Stanley Picker Travel Grant (2017). Recent exhibitions include at Saatchi Gallery, London, at Stanley Turner Ground, Lewes, and The Take Courage Gallery, London. 

Blackaller’s practice consists primarily of painting and sculpture. Using a wide range of materials and making techniques, the artist aims to avoid the constraints of a singular methodology, in order to maintain a level of uncertainty and distance from the work he produces. Blackaller seeks this detachment in questioning unknowings of justifications for things like “Why a metal shaft might have been installed on a train station platform”. These kinds of initial questions and scepticism help to inform his practice, and encourage a narrative that teases out something that may otherwise not be interrogated. His practice can feel like guess work, trial and error or a process of elimination. It is Blackaller’s intention to make mistakes so that he has a problem to solve. His work is often auto-referential, when for example illustrating diagrams of how sculptures may be constructed or assembled, and can be seen as proposals or stages towards something that might never be made. 

Education

Slade School of Fine Art, MFA Sculpture - 2018 - 2021

Kingston School of Art, BA Fine Art (First Class Honours) - 2015 - 2018

City College Brighton & Hove, UAL Foundation Diploma in Art & Design - 2014 - 2015

Selected Shows 

London Grads Now, Saatchi Gallery, London - 2020

Excavation, Stanley Turner Ground, Lewes - 2020

MA & MFA Interim Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London - 2019

Scene In Situ, The Take Courage Gallery, London - 2019

Kingston BA Fine Art Degree Show, Kingston School of Art - 2018

If Only & Wanting Not So Much, Avionics, Kingston - 2018

Hot Space, Platform Gallery, Kingston - 2018

Kingston BA Fine Art Second Year Show, Kingston School of Art, Kingston - 2017

Unpalletable, Platform Gallery, Kingston - 2017

Kingston BA Fine Art First Year Show, Kingston School of Art, Kingston - 2016

Collection, Apiary Studios, London - 2016

Brighton City College Art and Design Foundation Show, City College Brighton and Hove, Brighton - 2015

Residencies

UCL EAST Artist in Residence, UCL East, LondonAwards - 2019 - 2020:

Felix Slade Scholarship, Slade School of Fine Art - 2018

Stanley Picker Travel Grant, Stanley Picker Gallery - 2017