Maud Madsen’s Dweller examines domestic space and private allocations of time. The paintings depict solitary characters who are intent and occupied, enacting purposeful domestic gestures rather than expressing absence. Loneliness appears as active engagement, shaped by articulated reason and passion, and presented through portraits of private habit and temporal interiority. The works register memories that indicate how time affects the mind, evoking the feeling of being by oneself and attempting to make do while allowing youth to present itself. The series frames personal space and time as sites of understanding and vital exploration of inner life.
I brought up Maud Madsen, not that I find her work to be about a sadness or absence, but that I loved the ways in which she paints a character that is intent and busy with being by themself. That her work showcased a kind of loneliness that comes with action, with articulated reason, with passion. I don't find her character to be lonely, but allowing the viewer to see inside someone's own time, own space.
When we spoke to Madsen a few years ago, she told us "Whenever I imagine a painting, I try to think about how everything felt." And what I gather from her work is that these memories she portrays are indications of how time works on the mind, that she remembers the feeling of being by one's self and trying to make due and let youth present itself as it is.
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