Jason Middlebrook writes:
In the fall of 2008 I was contacted by the Aspen Museum and invited to make a series of sculptures for their annual ArtCrush event. The artist Fred Tomaselli had a survey exhibition that coincided with the event, which impacted my vision for the sculptures I made. Living in the Hudson Valley where our annual rainfall is over 45 inches a year, it creates a perfect condition for fungi to spread. Last year that series of mushrooms sprouted again. The forms, the texture, the scale and symbolic nature of all types of fungi has been my inspiration. I’m drawn to series in my work, the mushroom sets up a framework for me to explore with rules. Fungi are Earth’s primary recyclers, they break down organic matter and release it into soil. Artists are recyclers as well. In the case of mushrooms, I’m recycling ideas and approaches over and over again to create a dialog between viewer and the mushroom. In many cases my mushroom paintings treat the form as a cherished sculpture similar to the sculptures on display in the show.
Jason Middlebrook (b. 1966, Jackson, MI) received his Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA. He completed an Independent Study Program at The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. His work may be found in the collections of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Marte Museum, San Salvador, El Salvador; Redmond, WA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; NASA Art Program, Washington, D.C.; New Museum, New York, NY; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Middlebrook lives and works in Hudson, NY.
