ARTIST STATEMENT
Within my work, there is an examination of figures and forms that disrupts the comfort of the controlled construction of female identity and its unachievable expectations. By using my body and my experiences with these expectations, I expose my fragmented feeling of self that I’ve felt and work to reconstruct it. I unearth these experiences and give them form through automatic drawing and oil paint. Automatic drawing is a crucial part of my process which exposes my unconscious reactions to my experiences with femininity.
Automatic drawing is a crucial part of my process, leaving traces of my unconscious reactions to internalized societal standards. This approach becomes a conversation throughout the process of painting as I discover shaping figures that distance the body from beauty. After layering paint, I excavate, scraping away to reveal what was once underneath. Oil paint’s visceral quality allows me to put myself into the work, showing the emotion with each brushstroke while also exposing the layers of my process. In reconstructing these memories, I work to show vulnerable and intimate moments of healing.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Madelyn Turner is a figurative painter based in Illinois. She has a BA in Studio Art from Knox College and is currently pursuing an MFA degree at Illinois State University. Her paintings stem from personal experiences with societal expectations of women. She actively works to break these expectations and show the intimate moments that she has experienced with her own body as she dismantles the ingrained consciousness of feminine identity.
© Madelyn Turner