Art

Matthew Day Jackson x Aztech Mountain: Winter Materiality

Matthew Day Jackson partners with Aztech Mountain to turn high-performance skiwear into cultural critique. Explore the materials, myths, and market behind this collaboration.

Por: Angela Leon Cervera
Matthew Day Jackson
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (after Moran), 2023. Matthew Day Jackson. Photo: @matthewdayjackson

Contemporary art loves a new surface. In the mountains, that surface is weatherproof, heat-sealed, and cut for speed. Matthew Day Jackson steps onto snow with Aztech Mountain, reframing skiwear as a vessel for ideas rather than mere gear. The result tests how far material culture can carry critique into real weather.

 

Aztech was founded in 2013 in Aspen and New York, building purposeful performance garments “at any elevation.” The brand’s Head of Design, Casey Cadwallader, links fashion rigor to technical utility, while Olympic legend Bode Miller serves as chief innovation officer and co-owner. Taken together, this team gives Jackson a lab where aesthetics meet altitude.

Matthew Day Jackson
Furistic Crew Sweater. Courtesy of Aztech Mountain

What makes Matthew Day Jackson’s material language fit the slopes?

Jackson’s practice fuses sculpture, painting, collage, and furniture design, with materials chosen for meaning as much as form. His Kolho chairs and tables, created with Made by Choice and Formica, already bridged art and industrial surface culture. Bringing that mindset to textiles is a logical next step.

 

He also names the tension that drives his work the “horriful,” a consciousness where beauty and horror co-exist. That lens suits performance apparel, which protects the body while invoking human mastery over hostile environments. On the mountain, a parka becomes a portable thesis on progress. 

 

Fast facts

  • Multidisciplinary practice shown at the Whitney Biennial 2006.

  • Ongoing engagement with American myths, technology, and frontier imagery.

  • Lives and works between Brooklyn and Wilson, Wyoming, where alpine terrain shapes daily life.

Matthew Day Jackson
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (after Moran), 2023. Matthew Day Jackson. Photo: @matthewdayjackson
Matthew Day Jackson
Furistic Crew Sweater. Courtesy of Aztech Mountain

How does Aztech Mountain position skiwear as cultural object?

Aztech’s brand DNA marries Aspen’s elite adventure culture with real performance. That positioning is not cosmetic. It rests on technical builds and athlete input, amplified by Miller’s role in product innovation. The result is gear that invites scrutiny beyond the chalet. 

 

Price points underscore the luxury-performance tension: Nuke Suit jackets list around $1,695, while the Super Nuke reaches $1,850–$1,895 at retail. Names like “Nuke” load the garments with symbolic voltage, echoing Jackson’s long interest in the atomic age and the double edge of technological progress. 

 

What to watch in the product lexicon

 

  • Nuke / Super Nuke: Protection language collides with Cold War memory.

  • Shells and insulation: Advanced synthetic membranes and down blends as living materials.

  • Women’s line: Cadwallader’s fashion-grade patterning meeting slope ergonomics.

Where does the collaboration land in today’s art-and-design ecology?

This is not Jackson’s first functional object. The move echoes his furniture experiments and museum projects that recode icons from LIFE magazine covers to frontier imagery. In skiwear, the art migrates into weather systems and lift lines, testing how critique behaves outside white cubes. 

 

Aztech’s Aspen narrative also matters. The town’s shift from mining outpost to cultural-sport hub makes it a perfect stage for debates about landscape, leisure, and capital. When a jacket named Super Nuke keeps you warm at –15°C, it also asks what kind of power we are buying into. The literal warmth is clear. The metaphor is the point. 

 

Signals that this is more than merch

 

  • Artist credit appears directly on select pieces, including knit layers developed with Jackson.

  • The brand’s about page names Cadwallader in design leadership, keeping silhouette and construction at runway standards.

  • Athlete-engineered feedback loops keep the line credible at speed.

Matthew Day Jackson
Furistic Crew Sweater. Courtesy of Aztech Mountain

“Winter materiality” here is not a metaphor. It is alpaca, down, membranes, and taped seams used to stage a debate about the human urge to conquer. Matthew Day Jackson x Aztech Mountain transforms skiwear into a traveling argument about beauty, danger, and the cost of mastery. If you want art to earn its keep, put it in the cold and see what survives.

FAQ — The Quick Lift Line

  • Is Matthew Day Jackson actually connected to mountain life? Yes. He lives and works between Brooklyn and Wilson, Wyoming, near the Tetons, and has spoken about that alpine environment shaping daily experience.
  • Who designs Aztech Mountain’s collections? Aztech names Casey Cadwallader as Head of Design, bringing high fashion discipline to performance outerwear.
  • What is the “horriful” and why does it matter here? It is Jackson’s concept for the coexistence of beauty and horror. In this context, it frames protective gear as both comfort and critique.
  • How elite is the pricing? Core insulated jackets typically range from about $1,695 for Nuke Suit to $1,850–$1,895 for Super Nuke, depending on retailer and season.
  • Does Aztech have athlete R&D behind the scenes? Yes. Bode Miller is chief innovation officer and a co-owner, bringing top-level racing insight to product development.

RELATED POSTS

Receive the latest news

Subscribe To Our Magazine

Luster Magazine

Digital Magazine

Ingresa los siguientes datos y comienza a disfrutar de nuestra revista digital.