Comments on: Matthew Day Jackson’s Roadside Attractions

By: 8490539

8490539 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:27:33 +0000

1185565200

By: 3721869

3721869 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:27:21 +0000

[url=http://www.505114936.com]505114936[/url]

By: 8872279

8872279 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:27:19 +0000

http://www.425437096.com

By: 2661471

2661471 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:27:14 +0000

1401513563

By: jerseyjoe

jerseyjoe — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:13:48 +0000

Carved wooden fists coated in black rubber meant to refer to the civil rights movement, unity, the right to assemble, and the right to fight for what one believes in is pretty funny. Kind of like the scene in Gleaming The Cube where Christian Slater’s character builds and rides a METAL skateboard for the final showdown.

By: jerseyjoe

jerseyjoe — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:01:19 +0000

By: Jessica Bromer

Jessica Bromer — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 16:41:25 +0000

Good answer, Jackson. My work here is done.

By: Matt Jackson

Matt Jackson — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 15:28:21 +0000

My comment was out of line. Please excuse my insensitivity and innaccuracy. Saying that I want to further conversation should eliminate uses of lame statements like that. I apologize. really.
As far as someone thinking the work is bullshit, that is a chance I am taking, and although I wish it were different it will probably happen again.
The fists for me are about unity, and the right to assemble, and the right to fight for what you believe. The other thing that I am trying to say is that we are not seperate in societies struggle for real liberty. We all need to believe in and support everyones struggle for freedom, and justice. Also, the fists are inseperable from the civil rights movement and I am using this iconography to introduce ideas of the struggle for freedom and justice into the work.
The way history is taught would lead us to believe that our leaders have been the vanguard of progress in society. The reality is that positive change always happens in the community first, and through unity pressure is created to enact change. I want to discuss the civil rights movement as if it never ended, and that right now is a time to be keeping this in our vision of what society should be.
The fists are also about this idea; that as time passes history has given us the possibility of learning from our mistakes, but in many cases we have not. This makes history act as if it is in a purgatory of sorts, and that the only way to let it rest is to learn from our mistakes. The fists coming up from the ground are an attempt to suggest that history is not lying peacefully beneath our feet, but rather a restless corpse. Or, perhaps a body buried alive. These ideas in conjuction with all of the others hopefully tell a story that encompases a great many things but direct enough where it isn’t just clutter.

By: Jessica Bromer

Jessica Bromer — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 07:49:13 +0000

Matt,
I can’t let a statement like “you may have insulted every mother and their attempts to find ways to make sense of their lives” stand. Those are fighting words! I’m talking about a work of art. There is a difference between critiquing the visual language an artist uses to communicate spiritual depth and critiquing the idea that a certain demographic is capable of spiritual depth in the larger world. The statements I made which were not specifically about your mother boil down to: Some Americans, upon finding themselves in a position where they suddenly have more free time, start exploring their spirituality in ways that are awkward. And I stand behind that statement. Everyone is awkward in new situations, but, because Americans are notoriously grabby and self-centered, sometimes this awkwardness is mixed with a degree of self-importance that I find irritating. As I said, watching your mother for thirteen minutes gave me plenty of time to free-associate. The person in front of me was a mother, so that was my starting point for thinking about Americans in general. Your mom did not seem arrogant; she seemed sincere and humble. But yes, awkward. My language may have been unnecessarily barbed and detached. Noted. But I repeat, at no point do I say mothers are incapable of spiritual depth. If any demographic is more able than others to experience deep, trancendant love and an intuitive awareness of the sublime, its people who’ve grown another human being in their bodies and then kept them alive with milk from those same bodies. That’s amazing!
The more important issue, in my opinion, is the fact that you have appropriated an incredibly culturally loaded symbol, the Black Power fist, and used it to your own mysterious ends. A friend of African heritage mentioned to me last night that she thought this was “bullshit.” What would you say to that?

By: Matt Jackson

Matt Jackson — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:31:11 +0000

The last paragraph is very good. I wish that you would have stated that before. Some of my sculptures are “remakes” of objects that have been in the very thick of the histories that I am interested in exploring through making art, thinking and writing. The “life-size” rule that I use while making these things is to suggest that these ideas are of today and can not be trivialized in the way that a souvenir trivializes often-times huge moments in history. History needs to be learned from, not placed on a mantle. I have a Vicksburg Battlefield tote-bag that I carry gum, and a bottle of water, a sketch-book, and sometimes tools. So, I guess i am trying to say is that you do not have to be disappointed, but that should have been stated rather than “vaguely native woodcrafts”. That would have ruled.
As far as being a critic is concerned, I feel it is very important only to fully immerse yourself in your ideas, and to push hard always. You should be no other than your very best self.
I see the work with my mother is my assault on irony and emptiness, and that real things can be addressed in making art and both my mother and I are pushing hard to see where we fit in the world. We are Co-patriots in finding meaning and ways to express meaningful things. With that said, I do also recognize that humor can be a way to talk about difficult things.
I do not feel as though you have insulted my mother. I do think that you may have insulted every other mother and thier attempts to find ways to make sense of thier lives. I do not have a problem with being critical of the work, I put it out there and believe it can take it. I just have problems with some things you have said that I would immeditely take issue with regardless whether it was my work or not. There is an obvious heirarchy in the way you see people trying to understand thier spiritual selves. I see what my mom (and other mothers) is doing as equal to anyone else trying to understand that great unknown.
I liked “beg, borrow and steal”, I thought it was a great way to open the piece. Also, I do not respond to those I am dismissing. Especially on a blog.