Study Collection V

Matthew Day Jackson's relationship with American popular culture is precedent within his sprawling practice - his excavation of American History and its iconic past is known for its diverse catalogue of references, regenerated legends and re-animated mythological narrative. Jackson exhumes specific moments of History and constructs a narrative of material realisation; his juxtaposition is reliant on self-representational historical investigation. Icons of significant calamity and irrelevant catastrophe also feature largely in Jackson's work. Jackson's interest in story of Phineas Gage (1823-1860) can be visualised in the current lot, Study Collective V, in which Jackson has assembled substantial objects to rationalise the demeanour of Gage after his accident in which an explosive charge drove a large iron rod through his skull, destroying a portion of his brain's frontal lobes. Personified by a cast skull impaled by a neon acrylic rod and accessories of a working man such as boots and axe handles, Jackson combines diverse materials to resonate symbolic elements of time with the pursuit of new technology and historic imagery. Such an approve can be best summarised by the artist's own words: 'I am interested in the accumulation of information, materials and forms. The Constructivists believed that the accumulation of minute parts would create a whole, expressing a belief in the sum of individuals to assume a unified form. I see the disparate parts of my projects as being intricately connected, which speaks of my belief in the interconnectivity of everything.' (The artist quoted from http:/en.artpress.com/American-Art-Today-Matthew-Day-Jackson-Vanishing- Point,8904.media?a=7968).