Jacob Lucius Cartwright was born in Ferntree Gully, Australia in 1982 and is of the 3rd generation of a family of artists. His unique training in art was an informal one but none the less permeated his daily life from an early age. On the other hand music and composition took on a more institutional aspect. At 12 he was accepted into the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts for secondary education studying music. He later studied on a full scholarship at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and then at 16 was accepted into the V.C.A. tertiary College for Music Composition. Through many travels of both internal and external nature he began to integrate sound and resonance, sculpture and the practice of listening. He can now be found in his studios in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, where he has access to the best marble in the world from the Carrara marble mountains. Aside from marble, Cartwright enjoys working with found or gifted objects, such as beached mahogany sailboats and 500-year-old excavated chestnut beams. Cartwright’s approach to sculpture is made unique by his undeniable influence from the world of sound and resonance and in how the practice of listening brings him closer to his human nature and spirit. For him the direct act of creation – being present in the moment of discovery – is as important to him now when sculpting as it was improvising and subsequently composing music. He often interprets sound, frequency or resonance into form.
His sound sculptures and installations are more conceptual and have been presented in Bei Wu Art Foundation in Germany and La Capella Marchi and Paola Raffo Arte Contemporanea, both in Tuscany. His collaborative, site specific performance art has been presented in Lucca, Bagni di Lucca Art festival, Cartasia and InTeatro in Italy, Fabrik Potsdam in Germany and Saari Manor in Finland. He has been granted art residencies at the Long Meadow Art Residency and the Kripalu Yoga centre in Massachusetts USA, Saari Residence by Kone foundation in Finland, Mas des Graviers in France, Bei Wu Art Foundation in Germany and Villa Nappi in Italy.
His sculpture has been exhibited at the Asia Socciety Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Visual Arts centre, The Art Walk in Tonfano, Tuscany, Paola Raffo Arte Contemporanea in Pietrasanta, Italy, La Rondine Gallery in Italy and Hong Kong, Leonida Estate in Tuscany, Biennale di Soncino in Cremona, Barcelona SWAB art fair, Axes Collective in Brussels, La Polveriera in Pietrasanta and Australia House in London. His works are in private collections in the United States, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, India, Norway, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan and Australia.