Statement

I am interested in the conversation between austerity and excess. What do control and restraint have to offer? What about indulgence? And extravagance? We navigate this tension daily in our clothing, our food, our purchases, in the way we manage our emotions and our bodies. More often than not, the spot where we land between “too much” and “too little” is one full of moral meaning. It becomes the site wherein we might perform our values and our worth. At times, our very identity.

In my work, I explore this spectrum and the spots along its line through color, scale, labor, and the body. Much of my work is a product of a strictly defined course of action. I design and execute tasks that require a kind of mechanization of the body. They are simple, but prone to evidence of imperfection or lack of control. Repetitive, thoughtless, labor. And its residue.

My painting practice is, in many ways, an answer to this mode of operation. Here, I push color and scale as far as I am able. The work is felt by the viewer; their skin that is a lung, their eyes that are such small mouths. How much red is too much red?

Ultimately, my work is an attempt at fleshing out this spectrum. This line. This jumbled pile. Where can I live in it? And where does it live in me?

Bio

Rebecca Madsen lives and works in Centralia, WA. She studied theatrical performance and scenic painting at Loyola Marymount University, graduating with a BA in 2009. Since this time, Rebecca has been developing her large-scale acrylic pour paintings alongside her process-driven drawings in graphite. Rebecca received her MFA in 2023 from Montana State University. Her work has been shown at the Paul Harris Gallery, Alpha Art, and the Livingston Center for Art and Culture in Montana. She was honored to receive a merit award in the 2023 SPSCC Southwest Washington Juried Art Exhibition.