The quality of light cast into these spaces can bring poetry to the prosaic, magic to the mundane, and beauty to the banal. The light spilling through these nocturnal landscapes and vacant interiors serves as a spotlight, transforming the scenes into empty stage sets soon to be entered or perhaps long abandoned, suggesting the possibility of untold narratives that are just out of reach. My intent is not to tell stories directly, but to set stages in such a way that viewers are compelled to consider moments before and after the one presented based on personal associations with the imagery.

Jacob Crook, born in St. Louis, MO in 1985, works in mezzotint engraving and is also trained as an observational painter and draftsman. Crook holds an MFA degree in printmaking from Syracuse University 2014 and a BFA in painting from the University of Missouri-Columbia 2009. Crook’s works have been exhibited globally including at the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston, and displayed in numerous academic and private collections. He lives in Starkville, MS working as Assistant Professor of Art and Printmaking Coordinator in the Department of Art at Mississippi State University.