Matthew Day Jackson
Encyclopedia
Matthew Day Jackson is an American
artist whose multifaceted practice encompasses sculpture, painter
, collage
, photographer
, drawing
, video
, performance
and installation
. Since graduating with an MFA from Rutgers University
in 2001, following his BFA from the University of Washington
in Seattle, his numerous solo exhibitions have marked him out as one of the most inventive and thought-provoking artists of his generation. His work has been shown at MAMbo
Museo d'Arte Moderna in Bologna, Italy; Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Boulder, Colorado
; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA; the Portland Museum of Art
Biennial in Portland, Maine; and the Whitney Biennial
Day for Night in New York.
His works utilise a familiar iconography, recycling culturally loaded images such as the geodesic structures of Buckminster Fuller
, mankind’s first steps on the moon, and the covers of LIFE
magazine from the ’60s and ’70s, cross-pollinating these and mixing them with numerous references from art history. Jackson depicts these using the world around him: scorched wood, molten lead, mother-of-pearl, precious metals, formica, and found objects such as worn T-shirts, prosthetic limbs, axe handles and posters, for instance. These diverse materials resonate with symbolism, combining apocalyptic elements with the fruits of new technologies, historical imagery with contemporary ingredients. In his art ideas are granted physical form, and it is in the clash between the two, in the material impact of idealist thought, that it derives its force.
The critic Jeffrey Kastner has noted that his works locate ‘startling beauty in their counterintuitive material juxtapositions.’ However for Jackson beauty is frequently partnered by desolation. His work explores a concept that he terms ‘the Horriful’, the belief that everything one does has the potential to bring both beauty and horror.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist whose multifaceted practice encompasses sculpture, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
, photographer
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
and installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
. Since graduating with an MFA from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 2001, following his BFA from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle, his numerous solo exhibitions have marked him out as one of the most inventive and thought-provoking artists of his generation. His work has been shown at MAMbo
Mambo
Mambo is a musical form and dance style that developed originally in Cuba and then later in Mexico. The word "mambo" means "conversation with the gods" in Kikongo, the language spoken by Central African slaves taken to Cuba.-History:...
Museo d'Arte Moderna in Bologna, Italy; Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA; the Portland Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art
The Portland Museum of Art is an art museum in Portland, Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882, it is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District, and is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S...
Biennial in Portland, Maine; and the Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
Day for Night in New York.
Work
Jackson’s art grapples with big ideas such as the evolution of human thought, the fatal attraction of the frontier and the faith man places in technological advancement. His work particularly addresses the myth of the American Dream, exploring the forces of creation, growth, transcendence and death through visions of its failed utopia. Recent work expands on these underlying ideas inherent in the American mythology and focuses on the plurality of this mythology pointing to its existence outside American Culture. Individual sculptures and paintings interconnect with each other to create complex scenarios that revisit history and reassemble its narratives. His work is frequently monumental, imposing not only on a large scale physically but also conceptually, occupying an intellectual terrain that reaches from ancient history to Outer Space exploration and discovery.His works utilise a familiar iconography, recycling culturally loaded images such as the geodesic structures of Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
, mankind’s first steps on the moon, and the covers of LIFE
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
magazine from the ’60s and ’70s, cross-pollinating these and mixing them with numerous references from art history. Jackson depicts these using the world around him: scorched wood, molten lead, mother-of-pearl, precious metals, formica, and found objects such as worn T-shirts, prosthetic limbs, axe handles and posters, for instance. These diverse materials resonate with symbolism, combining apocalyptic elements with the fruits of new technologies, historical imagery with contemporary ingredients. In his art ideas are granted physical form, and it is in the clash between the two, in the material impact of idealist thought, that it derives its force.
The critic Jeffrey Kastner has noted that his works locate ‘startling beauty in their counterintuitive material juxtapositions.’ However for Jackson beauty is frequently partnered by desolation. His work explores a concept that he terms ‘the Horriful’, the belief that everything one does has the potential to bring both beauty and horror.
External links
- Hauser & Wirth
- The Chinati Foundation | Artists in Residence | Matthew Day Jackson
- Ten "Greater New York" Artists Most Likely to Succeed (As featured in)
- The Saatchi Gallery; About Matthew Day Jackson and his art Additional information on Matthew Day Jackson including artworks, text panels, articles, and full biography
- Bucky (ROYGBV), Proof I/V from Dymaxion Series Print at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- | Born in Dystopia exhibition | Rosenblum Collection | Paris, France | Permanent installation | "Second Home"