Jason Middlebrook: Another World

The sweeping, wall-length panoramic mural is inspired by the Moss Arts Center’s stunning architecture.

The Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech marks the reopening of its gallery spaces with a sweeping, panoramic work of art inspired by its own architectural elements. Another World is a site-specific commissioned work created by nationally acclaimed artist Jason Middlebrook.

Middlebrook envisioned, created, and digitally rendered this new 17-by-25.5-foot work of art, which stretches across the gallery’s longest wall. Recognized for his complex and mesmerizing compositions, Middlebrook is best known for his “plank paintings,” geometrically-patterned paintings on planks of elm, maple, or other hardwoods that exist somewhere between painting and sculpture. He has also created a number of public art works ranging from mosaic wall works to large-scale bronze sculptures.

This two-dimensional wall work at the Moss provides a new direction for the artist. For Another World, Middlebrook merges his drawing and painting skill with digital processes on a grand scale. Middlebrook developed the work through numerous sketches, creating a 40-by-60-inch multi-colored drawing which was scanned, digitally rendered on PhotoTex, and mounted to the gallery wall.

“Another World presents a visual journey in a grand sweep through multiple perspectives, intersecting and colliding formations, and points of view,” said Margo Ann Crutchfield, Moss Arts Center’s curator-at-large. “The work’s imagery, inspired in part by the soaring architectural elements of the Moss Arts Center, is rooted in this world, though, sifted and transformed through the artist’s imagination. From one end to the other the imagery ventures beyond our immediately recognizable reality into another realm. It’s a complex, intriguing, and fluid landscape.”

The Moss Arts Center will present an online artist talk with Middlebrook on Thursday, September 17, at 6pm EDT. The talk is free and open to the public, but registration is required. 

Middlebrook’s work has been shown throughout the United States with exhibitions at major museums including the New Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Princeton University Art Museum.

Another World is curated by Crutchfield and is on view through November 21, 2020.

Also currently on view in the Francis T. Eck Exhibition Corridor is “Art and Social Conscience,” a sequence of installations calling attention to sociopolitical issues and the need for change. The first presentation is In Search of the Truth by CAUSE COLLECTIVE. This installation presents concise thoughts and observations by people from around the world who are grappling with one of the most pertinent social, political, and philosophical issues—what the truth is and what it means. Created by CAUSE COLLECTIVE members Ryan Alexiev, Jim Ricks, Hank Willis Thomas, Jorge Sanchez, and Will Sylvester, the work is a thoughtful and at times profound exploration of values in this time of moral upheaval.

22 Steps is a recurring installation on the Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby Staircase that celebrates the written word in a spatial and visual experience. The iteration of 22 Steps currently on display features a statement from Across that Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change by the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis (1940–2020).

“Art and Social Conscience” will also feature the exhibition Four Freedoms, produced by For Freedoms, an artist-run platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the United States, co-founded by Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman in 2016. 

Four Freedoms opens on October 15, 2020.

The Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech presents renowned artists from around the globe and from close to home, with a special focus on experiences that expand cultural awareness and deepen understanding. The center’s galleries and related events are free and open to the public.