Born in the US, 1974. Lives and works in New York
Ain’t dead yet… (based on Chief Bigfoot), 2006, burned scrap, wood, manzanita burl, carved fist, bronze

The sculptor Matthew Day Jackson uses frontier symbols for contemporary political aims. Based on found materials, Jackson’s sculptures appropriate the cultural symbolism of everyday objects and draw upon a Romantic heritage to present visions of American identity. Jackson creates a portrait of lost ideals that hark back to an age of political innocence, while adopting ready-made natural forms as an allegory of freedom. Alluding to the American Transcendentalists and to New World heroic folklore, his sculptures resound with a nostalgic patriotism reflective of present-day experiences of discontent.