How the Hell Did I Get Here? by Jason Jacobson

Jason Jacobson is showing How the Hell Did I Get Here at the Salt Lake City Public Library, in the Main Library's Lower Urban Room at 210 E. 400 South. The exhibition runs from September 21 through November 14, 2026, so you've got a good window to catch it.

Jacobson is a Cottonwood Heights artist, born in 1973, and these mixed-media paintings work like oversized journal pages. They move between inward self-reflection and observations of contemporary society, sitting somewhere between abstraction and abstract realism. He combines different materials and processes to explore mortality, fear, loss, mental health, and social issues.

There's a professional background that informs the work: Jacobson spent nearly 30 years as a graphic artist in retail advertising, marketing, and print media. He describes himself as a Gen-Xer and says he prioritizes emotion, mood, and confrontation over style and grace, framing his practice around the idea of "progress over perfection."

If you want to see the work in person, the show is free. The reception was back on Saturday, September 26, from 3 to 5 PM, but the paintings stay on the walls through November 14.