New York, August 16, 2022 – Pace is pleased to announce its global representation of Matthew Day Jackson, whose decades long explorations of varied histories, technological phenomena, and modes of mythmaking have evolved into a multi-faceted practice spanning sculpture, painting, photography, performance, and installation. Jackson will have his debut presentation with Pace in the inaugural edition of Frieze Seoul in September, where the gallery will showcase work by artists across its contemporary program. His first solo exhibition with Pace will take place in New York in 2023. Pace will represent Jackson in collaboration with GRIMM Gallery.
Through his expansive practice, Jackson explores a wide range of subjects—historical, futuristic, scientific, spiritual, and fantastical. He uses recognizable American images and iconography associated with LIFE Magazine, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the American West, the atomic bomb, and more to examine the ways that an inexorable pursuit of a false utopia throughout American history has shaped notions of national identity in the US. Jackson brings his own experience and embodiment of the past and present to the fore of his practice. At the core of his work is a deep interest in finding similarities within binaries and dichotomies, particularly the simultaneity of beauty and horror.
Leaving seemingly no stone unturned, the research and experimentation central to Jackson’s process undermines mythologies of artistic genius connected to signature style. Utilizing a variety of traditional, industrial, and found materials—including Formica, molten lead, and scorched wood—the artist creates new meanings and interpretations. The materials he uses are equally as significant as the conceptual underpinnings of his artworks, and Jackson often aims to upend viewers’ expectations and initial impressions. His layered, complex works invite questions of medium, materiality, and meaning that are only answered through sustained consideration, analysis, and interrogation.
Jackson’s most recent series of landscape paintings, which will be on view in Pace’s booth at Frieze Seoul, echoes the works of Caspar David Friedrich, Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, and other 19th century figures. Using a semi-autonomous laser process that imbues colors and forms with an otherworldly feel, the artist mines the history of landscape painting, making connections to the conventions of landscape in science fiction film and literature, in which the strange and familiar converge. Reflecting Jackson’s long-standing interest in art historical allusions and intersections between physical and digital modes of art making, these works also investigate the complexities and ambiguities of authorship. Drawing through lines between the political and social issues of the 19th century and those of the present day, Jackson brings memory to the fore of these paintings.
“I am excited to start a new chapter in my career with people I have been friends with for a long time. I am excited to share my work in a great context and within a history of some of the world’s greatest artists.”
Matthew Day Jackson
“We’re thrilled to welcome Matthew Day Jackson to Pace. Matt and I have been friends for many years, and I’ve been following his career since his early exhibitions at institutions like Ballroom Marfa. I’ve always been struck by his engagement with historical, philosophical, and pop cultural subjects—Matt can take a big idea and give it new emotional and personal resonance. Through his multidisciplinary practice, Matt has proven himself to be one of the most versatile and virtuosic artists of his generation. In addition to his vast repertoire of three-dimensional work, Matt has been at the vanguard of digital art for some 20 years. His deeply innovative, experimental approach to art making aligns seamlessly with our program and mission, and we look forward to continuing our longtime and ongoing relationship with GRIMM gallery in sharing his work with our global audience.”
Marc Glimcher, President and CEO of Pace Gallery
In recent years, Jackson has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Netherlands; the Gösta Serlachius Museum of Art, Mänttä, Finland; and Guesthouse JH, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas, Austin; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Fundación Jumex, Mexico City; Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Italy; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy; the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Netherlands; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland; the François Pinault Collection, Paris and Venice; the Qiao Zhibing Collection, Shanghai; and other international institutions.
Matthew Day Jackson (b. 1974, Panorama City, California) has cultivated a practice encompassing sculpture, painting, collage, photography, drawing, video, performance, and installation. Jackson’s work, which is often monumental in scale, engages with a wide range of subjects, from the historical and scientific to the futuristic and fantastical. The artist graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1997 and earned his MFA from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2001. He was the recipient of the 2019 Jordan Schnitzer Award for Excellence in Printmaking, and he has participated in residencies at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas; the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art in Oregon; and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Maine. Jackson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Pace is a leading international art gallery representing some of the most influential contemporary artists and estates from the past century, holding decades-long relationships with Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Barbara Hepworth, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, and Mark Rothko. Pace enjoys a unique U.S. heritage spanning East and West coasts through its early support of artists central to the Abstract Expressionist and Light and Space movements.
Since its founding by Arne Glimcher in 1960, Pace has developed a distinguished legacy as an artist-first gallery that mounts seminal historical and contemporary exhibitions. Under the current leadership of President and CEO Marc Glimcher, Pace continues to support its artists and share their visionary work with audiences worldwide by remaining at the forefront of innovation. Now in its seventh decade, the gallery advances its mission through a robust global program—comprising exhibitions, artist projects, public installations, institutional collaborations, performances, and interdisciplinary projects. Pace has a legacy in art bookmaking and has published over five hundred titles in close collaboration with artists, with a focus on original scholarship and on introducing new voices to the art historical canon.
The gallery has also spearheaded explorations into the intersection of art and technology through its new business models, exhibition interpretation tools, and representation of artists cultivating advanced studio practices. As part of its commitment to technologically engaged artists within and beyond its program, Pace launched a hub for its web3 activity, Pace Verso, in November 2021.
Today, Pace has nine locations worldwide, including a European foothold in London and Geneva, and two galleries in New York—its headquarters at 540 West 25th Street, which welcomed almost 120,000 visitors and programmed 20 shows in its first six months, and an adjacent 8,000 sq. ft. exhibition space at 510 West 25th Street. Pace’s long and pioneering history in California includes a gallery in Palo Alto, which operated from 2016 to 2022. Pace’s engagement with Silicon Valley’s technology industry has had a lasting impact on the gallery at a global level, accelerating its initiatives connecting art and technology as well as its work with experiential artists. Pace consolidated its West Coastactivity through its flagship in Los Angeles, which opened in 2022. Pace was one of the first international galleries to establish outposts in Asia, where it operates permanent gallery spaces in Hong Kong and Seoul, as well as an office and viewing room in Beijing. Pace’s satellite exhibition spaces in East Hampton and Palm Beach present continued programming on a seasonal basis.