M a d e l y n T u r n e r

I'm Madelyn Turner, a figurative painter based in Illinois. I have my BA in studio art, and I am currently pursuing an MFA degree with Illinois State University. I am interested in the physical and affective experiences with the body. My paintings have been featured in publications and galleries such as Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL, the Borzello Gallery in Galesburg, IL, the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, IA, the Catich Gallery at St. Ambrose University, IA, and New American Paintings.

The process of painting allows me to feel the discomfort of corporeal (dis)embodiment: the haunted flesh. Indexing conversations that I have with my body into the painting is a way for me to understand my body and create an experience of what I feel when language fails.

My approach to painting becomes a mediation with the canvas as I discover and give shape to the physical experiences of my skin: how it feels when my skin folds into itself, bodily urges, and the soft texture of my fatty tissue. I embody the duality of beauty and the grotesque.

Flesh becomes material. The bodily texture of oil paint and cold wax opens an exploration into the body cavity of the work and me. Fleshy entanglements and conversations become buried within the folds of the painting. The painting struggles to remember the differences between aggression and tenderness.