Jason Middlebrook merges the natural and the abstract to create works of stunning contrast. His work features delicately painted planks and slabs of timber from trees grown in Western Massachusetts.
Inspired by the artful patterns embedded in the grains of a tree, Middlebrook’s work both exemplifies the sinuous lines running within wood as well as his artistic engagement with abstract, geometric forms. His work overlays organic material, such as cross-sections taken from the trunks of trees, with vivid geometric compositions reminiscent of the foremost abstractionists of the 20th Century. Confined by the dynamic, live edge of the tree, each painting contrasts the organic colors and lines of wood with the unnatural patterns and colors of Middlebrook’s composition. By embodying the forms of nature in highly technological mediums and media, Middlebrook is able to juxtapose the distinct patterns and chaos of each, to striking effect.