Matthew Day Jackson

Born in 1974, Panorama City

Lives and works in Brooklyn

Addressing fundamental questions concerning human existence, Matthew Day Jackson’s works grapple with themes such as science, technology, nature and God, and the complex histories and myths that represent them. In his LIFE magazine series, Jackson uses the magazine as a symbol of the motivations that underpin American ideology. Re-launched in 1936, LIFE magazine was America’s key photo-journalistic weekly news magazine for over 40 years. It purported to have no political leanings, but Jackson believes it favoured capitalism and industry.

February 25, 1957, is based on a LIFE cover featuring a dancer from the New Hebrides wearing a mask representing the spirit of a mythical being. Jackson sees the mask in this image as parallel to LIFE’s famous image of Buzz Armstrong’s first footprint on the moon. Both are symbols of man’s exploration, which Jackson sees as synonymous with occupation. Matthew Day Jackson’s work has been widely shown internationally at museums such as Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Serpentine Galleries, London and Louisiana Museum of Art, Denmark.