moniquemeloche is pleased to present
her first solo exhibition with Jason Middlebrook
Jason Middlebrook
LESS
May 22 – July 31, 2010
Opening reception for the artist Sat May 22, 4-7pm
“Less is more.” - Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, architect
“Doing more with less.” - Buckminster Fuller, designer
“Less but better.” Dieter Rams, industrial designer
“Live with less.” – Jason Middlebrook
Jason Middlebrook’s longstanding interest in the decaying landscape
was all about “sustainability” before the word became part
of our everyday vernacular. His paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations
address the concept of living with less and literally build upon this
strategy to convey that one can also be “alive with less.”
Re-imagining discarded materials like cardboard and plastic bottles into
provocative installations, Middlebrook essentially creates something from
nothing. In his site-specific installation LESS, Middlebrook
uses trashed and abandoned wood materials scavenged from the streets,
alleys, and basements of Chicago to create a jumbled starburst of reclaimed
wood in the gallery. The gravity-defying installation will be tension-supported
as the arms of the starburst press against the gallery walls, each arm
anchored with paintings and drawings further investigating man’s
relationship with nature.
“Instead of making work about man's misunderstanding of nature
I am making work that embraces nature’s endless visual gifts and
complexities of its processes. In the past I chose to comment on man's
fear and destruction of the environment. In recent years I'm more interested
in a collaboration with nature, a deeper look at nature.”
--- Jason Middlebrook 2010
gallery installation view and detail of the on
the wall project
Jason Middlebrook, born 1966 in Michigan and based in
Hudson New York, has exhibited extensively in the US and in Europe since
1994 when he graduated from San Francisco Art Institute. His work has
been exhibited at The Aldrich Museum, Connecticut; The Aspen Art Museum,
Colorado; Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea Siena, Italy;
The New Museum; The Whitney Museum; The Welcome Trust, London; and the
Public Art Fund NY, among other institutions. In 2010 Middlebrook has
two major commissions that will be completed, The Metropolitan Transit
Authority in New York City and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago
as part of the exhibit Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance,
Joy curated by Lynne Warren.
For further information contact
Whitney Tassie
Director
moniquemeloche
2154 W. Division
Chicago, IL 60622
773.252.0299
info@moniquemeloche.com
tues-sat 11-6pm