Public Art Fund: Material World: Matthew Day Jackson

Bronze, crystal ball, gravel, glass animal eyes,
coal skull beads, and aircraft cable

October 26, 2005 – September 10, 2006

MetroTech Center, Brooklyn

Matthew Day Jackson

Public Art Fund is proud to present a new exhibition of contemporary art at MetroTech Center. Material World features new commissions by Rachel Foullon, Corin Hewitt, Matthew Day Jackson, Peter Kreider, and Mamiko Otsubo. The works, which range from personal monuments to visionary landscapes, are each made using materials that directly relate to or are inspired by the artist’s chosen subject matter.

Matthew Day Jackson’s recent sculptures take as their starting point some of history’s most legendary artifacts, icons, and figures--the covered wagon, the Alamo, a flagpole, and a Viking boat, to name a few. Interested in how America’s past continues to play out in our current political and social landscape, and, more importantly, how it might impact the future, Jackson creates mixed-media works that teem with cultural references. He uses a wide variety of found objects and natural materials to create his sculptures, resulting in complex works that seem at once rustic and recent.

Jackson’s sculpture for MetroTech, Staff of Lady Liberty, is an optimistic tribute to the future that begins by recognizing the wisdom and human spirit of important figures of American history. The sculpture is rich in symbolism, celebrating grass roots movements, utopian mysticism, and ancient wisdom about nature. Standing 11 feet tall, the cast bronze staff resembles a tree branch adorned with representations of mythological animals, historic episodes, and portraits of progressive figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and Sacajawea. Jackson first made the sculpture out of scrap wood and then added on a variety of found objects and store-bought vintage trinkets: a souvenir totem pole, a coin commemorating the opening of the Lincoln Tunnel bearing its namesake’s portrait, a painted ceramic bust, and other objects, each one extracted from history’s consumer clutter to form a very loose portrait of American culture.

Artist Bio
Matthew Day Jackson lives and works in Brooklyn. He was born in Panorama City, California and grew up in Olympia, Washington; he received his BFA from University of Washington (1997) and his MFA from Rutgers University (2001). Jackson’s first solo exhibition took place at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas (2004) and his work has been featured in several group shows including “Greater New York” at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens (2005). He has a solo exhibition at Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, up through December 22, 2005.

Sponsorship
Material World at MetroTech Center is part of an ongoing program organized by the Public Art Fund and sponsored by MetroTech Commons Associates, an organization that consists of MetroTech companies Bear Stearns & Company, Forest City Ratner Companies, JPMorganChase, KeySpan, and Polytechnic University. Special thanks to Forest City Ratner Companies and First New York Management.

Special thanks to the Foundation for Contemporary Arts for additional funding toward the completion and installation of Matthew Day Jackson's sculpture, Staff of Lady Liberty.

Special thanks to Perry Rubenstein Gallery.

Location
MetroTech Center is located in Downtown Brooklyn between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue at Myrtle Avenue. Viewing hours are dawn to dusk daily for outdoor works, Monday through Friday 8am to 6pm for Mamiko Otsubo’s sculptures in One MetroTech. Subway: A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall, exit at Myrtle Promenade; R to Lawrence Street.