Jason Middlebrook

American, born 1966

Maggots on a Steak

Jason Middlebrook (American, born 1966). Maggots on a Steak, 2008. Pencil, acrylic, and ink on paper, 40 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches (103.51 x 75.56 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Sarah Norton Goodyear Fund, 2011 (2011:14). © 2008 Jason Middlebrook.

© Jason Middlebrook

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Jason Middlebrook

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Jason Middlebrook

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Maggots on a Steak, 2008

Artwork Details

Materials

pencil, acrylic, and ink on paper

Measurements

sheet: 40 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches (103.51 x 75.56 cm); framed: 43 7/8 x 32 13/16 x 2 1/4 inches (111.44 x 83.34 x 5.72 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Sarah Norton Goodyear Fund, 2011

Accession ID

2011:14

Jason Middlebrook explores the contradictory relationship between nature and human consumption. His works are colorful and linear, earthy and organic. Middlebrook often sources his materials directly from the environment, recycling wood or reconfiguring manmade products into large-scale forms modeled after those found in the natural world. For example, Underlife, which is currently installed on the museum’s campus, resembles an uprooted tree stump. In Maggots on a Steak, a row of pine trees extends into an urban grid of twinkling lights that fade into a dark horizon. Although this image initially appears romantic, a blighted landscape appears in the foreground, far beneath the vibrant strata of the terrain. The work’s title references the ability of larva to feed off their environment and suggests that this visionary landscape should be read simultaneously as an image of extinction and rebirth.

Label from Drawing: The Beginning of Everything, July 8–October 15, 2017