Jackson Martin

Biography

Jackson Martin serves as Chair of the Department of Art & Art History at the University of North Carolina Asheville. He is also Associate Professor of Sculpture and collaborative co-founder of the STEAM Studio. Martin was born and raised on a commune in rural Tennessee. He earned his BFA from Middle Tennessee State University and his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. He has taught at several institutions including, East Tennessee State University, College of Charleston, Penland and Arrowmont. He exhibits his work on a regional, national and international level. Notable venues include, Sculpture by the Sea, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Cameron Art Museum and Pratt Institute. He has also attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Godsbanen Cultural Center in Denmark and Baggat Art Group in South Korea.

Statement

Over the years my artwork has evolved into an interdisciplinary approach to sculpture, installation and photography. I combine and intertwine these concentrations in order to create dynamic experiences for my viewer. I regularly take walks with my camera, composing my reality and gaining inspiration in the process. I invariably gravitate towards environments where nature is reclaiming industry. My installation projects portray this complex relationship, in which I construct industrial containers to hold and embrace unaltered natural materials. These fabricated environments affirm the absolute power and everlasting resilience of the natural world.

I am also attracted to ordinary and everyday objects. I rescue them from banality by recreating and reorganizing their components into new, engaging combinations. Often, I will circle back and compose photographs of the new hand-made objects, involving them in manipulated situations that aid in subverting their original context. My recent body of work, entitled Making Amends, involves repairing, replacing and/or augmenting broken objects using ridiculous, time-consuming and entirely unnecessary means. I specifically choose disposable products that were never designed to be fixed in the first place, such as plastic laundry baskets, Styrofoam containers and metal folding chairs. The materials and processes by which I achieve my mending are as varied as the objects themselves, including fabricated steel, steam-bent wood, hand-built ceramics, cast bronze and sewn fabric. Occasionally the utility of the new hand-made object has been restored. More often than not, however, the aesthetics and overall value have been elevated, while ultimately leaving the object in its nonfunctioning state. With this work, I am calling attention to and asking viewers to consider their immersion in the extreme throwaway culture that has gradually pervaded American society for over the last 100 years.

I am also continually exploring the line between what is considered masculine and feminine, searching for new ways that my work can collapse traditional American male and traditional American female roles. This country has long since become a melting pot of people from around the world and I wholeheartedly embrace the potential for a harmonious heterogeneous society. Ultimately my artwork remains both autobiographical and visionary, proposing that individuals can be all-purpose; simultaneously embracing their history, culture, race and gender, while respecting and participating in that of the people around them.