87.63 x 60.96 x 55.88 cm
“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
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 installationLESS, 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.
