Patrick Jacobs, "Familiar Terrain"

This exhibit takes as its point of departure the Claude glass—an 18th-century optical device in the shape of a small convex mirror, usually tinted black. Landscape painters of the time would use them to compose picturesque scenes by holding one over the shoulder and observing the reflected, distorted result. Jacobs creates a similar effect by building meticulous pastoral dioramas inside the walls of the gallery. Three-inch-diameter peepholes are the only access to these views. Besides traditional landscapes, Jacobs uses brochures for Ortho pest control as source material.