Just Before The Thaw

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Just Before the Thaw

145 C-Prints, 18’’ x 12’’ each

Nebraska City in March is a landscape in transition. Snowdrifts became an iconic representation of this time between seasons and as I walked every street in town I documented every last bit of remaining snow; whether majestic or mundane, bright white or mostly sand.

Back

: drifts for web1

: drifts for web2

: drifts for web3

: drifts for web4

: drifts for web5

: drifts for web6

: drifts for web7

: drifts for web8

: drifts for web9

: drifts for web10

: drifts for web11

: drifts for web12

: drifts for web13

: drifts for web14

: drifts for web15

: drifts for web16

: drifts for web17

: drifts for web18

: drifts for web19

: drifts for web20

: drifts for web21

: drifts for web22

: drifts for web23

: drifts for web24

Park Artifacts Manhattan

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Park Artifacts, Manhattan

Park Artifacts is a project that spans the five boroughs of New York City and Governors Island. It began with my desire to actualize the magic of seeing and the power of patient observation. Over the past five years I have created a collection of over 4,000 artifacts dating from the early 1700s to the present. All of the objects were found in plain sight in public landscapes in New York City; my eyes and fingers the only tools utilized. Each collection creates a historical portrait of the respective landscape and helps communicate how the landscape is used today and how it was used in the past.

Park Artifacts (Manhattan) consists of over 3,000 artifacts found in Central Park, Washington Square Park, Swindlers Cove, Inwood Park, Highbridge Park, Ward Island and various smaller parks. Each collection is displayed according to its respective park and the objects range from a large fossil of a fern to fragments of 18th century Chinese export porcelain to strange plastic curiosities.
Back

: 1 governors island table

: 2 full view tables

: 3 central park2

: 4 central park

: 5 park overlay

: 6 birds eye view

: 8 inwood table

: 9 swindlers cove tables

: 11 washington square

: boat scene

: brown clay

: button

: chinese lettering vile

: colored beads

: corn pattern

: crockery

: delft doves

: fossil

: gov island pipe

: green patern

: green yellow

: letters

: penny

: pink with letters

: qmc

: red flower

: victorian raised

Silent Witness

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Silent Witnesses

Pelham Bay on the east coast of the Bronx is the largest park in New York City and it is home to some of the most impressive glacial erratics in the Northeast. The large boulders were deposited during the last ice age some 15,000 years ago and they have not moved since. Boulder fields are not an uncommon occurrence; however, the concentration and size of the stones in Pelham Bay is unique. Throughout the world stones hold a place in mythology and folklore and these are no different. Over the centuries different stones in Pelham Bay have acquired legends of their own. The Grey Mare and Mishow boulders were said to be sacred to the Native Americans living in the area. According to legend, Split Rock is the place where Anne Hutchinson and her family met their terrible fate. Several of the largest stones served as landmarks during the Revolutionary War and have since become monuments to important battles. Today there continues to be a relationship between locals and the stones but it is not nearly as reverent as in times past. The graffiti and paint splatters are marks of modern times but on such timeless canvases they seem more reminiscent of ancient cave paintings.

Back

: 1 silent witnesses installed2

: 2 silent witnesses installed1

: 3 silent witnesses19

: silent witnesses1

: silent witnesses2

: silent witnesses3

: silent witnesses4

: silent witnesses5

: silent witnesses6

: silent witnesses7

: silent witnesses8

: silent witnesses9

: silent witnesses10

: silent witnesses11

: silent witnesses12

: silent witnesses13

: silent witnesses14

: silent witnesses15

: silent witnesses16

: silent witnesses17

: silent witnesses18

: silent witnesses20

: silent witnesses21

: silent witnesses22

: silent witnesses23

: silent witnesses24

: silent witnesses25

: silent witnesses26

: silent witnesses27

: silent witnesses28

: silent witnesses29

: silent witnesses30

31 winter walks

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

31 Winter Walks

31 C-prints framed with brass plaque

Of all the landscape projects, this series is the most technologically painstaking despite the simplicity of its final design. Each photograph represents a single walk and features a collection of sticks and ephemera found along the way. The entire series represents 31 successive days of walks in the New Hampshire woods and town roads. Each collection of sticks was arranged and then bound with colored twine used to represent the events of the day. The bundles were photographed and then every detail was carefully preserved, isolated and set into a digital white space.

Back

: Crossing Brooklyn at Brooklyn Museum, Installation

: Crossing Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum

: Crossing Brooklyn at Brooklyn Museum

: Installation at 3rd Streaming

: 31 winter walks21

: april 16

: april 21

: april 31

: april 41

: april 51

: april 61

: april 71

: april 81

: april 91

: april 101

: april 111

: april 121

: april 131

: april 141

: april 151

: march 161

: march 171

: march 181

: march 191

: march 201

: march 211

: march 221

: march 231

: march 241

: march 251

: march 261

: march 271

: march 281

: march 291

: march 301

: march 311

When a tree

Posted on October 18, 2013 by mattjensen12345

When a Tree Becomes a Landmark and Then a Destination

5 C-prints installed in a line

A single white pine tree growing tall above the ridgeline of the Palisades became a personal landmark. It stood out in the winter amongst the hardwoods, in a landscape that was once dense with its kind. Such a tree is exactly what would have fit the definition of a landmark to a mariner 400 years ago. Eventually the landmark became a destination. I walked over the Hudson River, to the tree and back again. A 14-mile round trip.

Back

: whenatreebecomesalandmark1

: whenatreebecomesalandmark2

: whenatreebecomesalandmark3

: whenatreebecomesalandmark4

: whenatreebecomesalandmark5

Protected-View

Posted on October 15, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Protected View Walk, Storm King

Public walk, 90 minutes, participant drawing, proclamation, signatures

On a beautiful August day we started with a discussion about the history of Storm King Mountain and the early environmental movement that protected it from a major industrial project, one that would have destroyed an ancient view of the Hudson River. To begin our exploration of the landscape we bliss-walked through an open field, examined the sand grains in Momo Taro by Noguchi, responded to the smell of a sculpture, talked about edible weeds and at last began our search for a landscape that we could proclaim as “protected” from any future intervention. We voted. The petition was signed and submitted.

Back

: 1 storm king mountain

: 2 storm king article

: 3 72dpi

: 4 72dpi

: 5 72dpi

: 6 72dpi

: 7 72dpi

: 8 72dpi

: 9 72dpi

: 11 72dpi

: 12 72dpi

: 13 protected view declaration small

Park Artifacts, The Bronx

Posted on October 15, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Park Artifacts (The Bronx)

Park Artifacts is a project that spans the five boroughs of New York City and Governors Island. It began with my desire to actualize the magic of seeing and the power of patient observation. Over the past five years I have created a collection of over 4,000 artifacts dating from the early 1700s to the present. All of the objects were found in plain sight in public landscapes in New York City; my eyes, fingers and canvas bags the only tools utilized. Each collection creates a historical portrait of the respective landscape and helps communicate how the landscape is used today and how it was used in the past.

Park Artifacts (The Bronx) features objects collected from Hunter and Twin Islands in Pelham Bay Park on the east coast and from Riverdale Park and Wave Hill along the Hudson River. The artifacts range from once precious trading beads and an old clay pipe to strange playing cards dropped by careless children.

Back

: 1 jensen at wave hill installed6

: 2 jensen at wave hill installed14

: 3 jensen at wave hill installed1

: 4 jensen at wave hill installed3

: 5 jensen at wave hill installed4

: east side collection 1

: east side collection 2

: east side collection 3

: east side collection 4

: east side collection 5

: east side collection 6

: east side collection 7

: east side collection 8

: east side collection 9

: east side collection 10

: east side collection 11

: east side collection 12

: east side collection 13

: east side collection 14

: east side collection 15

: east side collection panel 1

: east side collection panel 2

The 49 States

Posted on October 15, 2013 by mattjensen12345

The 49 States

49 C-Prints installed in a grid, 16’’ x 16’’ each

Once upon a time only the sun touched everything, now Google does too. Each image features a scenario where the sun is hitting the Google cameras directly, while at the same time, something particularly subtle or beautiful is happening in the landscape. The series was ended before the inevitable addition of Hawaii to Streetview. I wanted to mark the brief window in time when there were only 49 states in the e-Union.

Back

: Metropolitan Museum of Art, The 49 States of Art

: National Gallery of Art, The 49 States

: National Gallery of Art, The 49 States

: National Gallery of Art

: National Gallery of Art

: CAM Raleigh

: CAM Raleigh with Maya Lin sculptures

: nc3

: nd3

: ne3

: nh3

: nj3

: nm3

: nv3

: ny3

: oh3

: ok3

: or3

: pa3

: ri3

: sc3

: sd3

: tn3

: tx3

: ut3

: va3

: vt3

: wa3

: wi3

: wv3

: wy3

: ak3

: al3

: ar3

: az3

: ca3

: co3

: ct3

: de3

: fl3

: ga3

: ia3

: id3

: il3

: in3

: ks3

: la3

: ma3

: md3

: me3

: mi3

: mn3

: mo3

: ms3

: mt3

Bright Bronx Trees

Posted on October 15, 2013 by mattjensen12345

Bright Bronx Trees

C-Prints, 40’’ x 60’’ each

It was the warmest winter on record and I spent much of it walking through the landscapes of the Bronx. The combination of unseasonable sun and remarkable trees come together in this series. Rather then photograph the south-facing, well-lit side of the trees, I chose to capture their shadowed, north-facing side. The camera was adjusted for the shadows, the sun placed behind the branches and the picture was exposed.

Back