Matthew Day Jackson at Grimm
Whilst wandering around Amsterdam last week I stumbled across Matthew Day Jackson's solo show at Grimm gallery - a really nice surprise. The work is carefully made with a nice sensitivity to materials, and was meticulously presented - even down to new floorings having been put in to complement the theme of the show, which apparently is about domestic spaces and materials.
It chimed well with me, as I had just been at the Rijksmuseum encountering some of my all-time favourite still life painters first hand (Willem Kalf, Willaim Claesz-Heda etc.)
In this context Day Jackson's show felt like a consummate updating of the vanitas genre, even though invocations of the 'v' word are all too easy to make just because there are skulls in the work.
It wasn't just the skulls though, I think it was the juxtaposition of these with the everyday materials used - stuff like carpeting, worktop laminates, faux leather as well as more industrial stuff.
Day Jackson's work put me instantly in mind of Ricky Swallow, another artist with an obsessive level of finish and skill in materials. Day Jackson would seem to reference Swallow's use of the skull in 3D pieces, as well as the cabinets of Damien Hirst. The use of UK road systems cut out from maps to form the blood vessels over the skeleton in the image above would also seem to owe a debt to Jonathan Parsons' meticulously cut maps from the '90s.
Of course, referencing the work of others whether directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously, is what we all do as artists. Far from being a negative thing, it is useful to locate one's practice amongst that of our peers or historical antescendants. No one wants to be derivative, but I think derivation in its negative form is only an issue when the practice in question is unaware of its debts. This doesn't seem to be the case with Day Jackson - the show felt comfortable with its references, and secure in its own identity.
Willem Kalf
Ricky Swallow
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