February 2022 AIR: Madeline Gallucci
We are excited to share the work of our February Artist in Residence - Madeline Gallucci
Learn more about their practice and the inspiration they pull from beauty tutorials and melodrama films from the interview below.
Q & A
Q: YOUR WORK PULLS INSPIRATION FROM ONLINE BEAUTY TUTORIALS AND MELODRAMA FILMS HIGHLIGHTING MOMENTS WHERE MIRRORS PLAY A KEY ROLE. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BEAUTY TUTORIAL OR MELODRAMA THAT INSPIRES YOU?
I am interested in melodrama from the 1950s - 1970s, specifically the films of Douglas Sirk and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The female characters in these films use mirrors and reflections as sites for personal transformations, serving as both framing devices and modes of entrapment. In “All That Heaven Allows,” (Sirk, 1955) these reflections are used to clue the viewer into the psychological state of protagonist Cary Scott, her underlying anxieties, and a desire for a better life. In “Chinese Roulette” (Fassbiner, 1976) characters use the home as a stage set where mirrors, candles, and glassware all become specific props to bring out moments of introspection or social interaction.
I like relating these films to contemporary mediums like beauty tutorials on social media. I am interested in how these influencers are performing and subverting classic beautification rituals that empower a gaze that is rooted in painting and creating illusion. It’s a matter of using makeup as material whether through skilled technique, experimentation, or misuse. Work by @sweetmutuals and @mandroni_redclock are constantly inspiring.
Q: SINCE THE PANDEMIC, OUR RELATIONSHIP (OR RELIANCE) ON ZOOM HAS FORCED MANY TO SEE OURSELVES THROUGH SCREENS, PUBLICLY AND PRIVATELY, FOR HOURS EACH DAY. HAVE YOU FELT THE NEED TO PUSH AWAY FROM MIRRORS OR SCREENS DUE TO EXCESS TIME ON ZOOM OR HAS THIS CREATED MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPLORATION AND AWARENESS IN YOUR WORK?
The increase of interacting in virtual spaces has greatly influenced my work. The mirror paintings began right before deep quarantine where I was recording specific bar bathroom mirrors around Chicago. When I was isolated at home, I started looking through these images I photographed as outlines for paintings and developed into a longing for these gathering spaces. As they progressed, I found I was more interested in the private moments we experience within these public settings. There is a collapsing of private and public space on Zoom and I am captivated by the way our personal objects adorn us in these flatted boxes and how we make images with our bodies and backgrounds. In thinking about how these images are experienced and consumed, I started taking pictures of myself in the studio; documenting moments that are typically kept private that I make public online.
Q: YOU SEEM TO USE DENSITY, DOUBLING AND ACCUMULATION TO CREATE AN IMMERSIVE SPACE THEREBY ENCOURAGING YOUR VIEWERS TO SHARE YOUR POINT OF VIEW. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW SCALE AND PLEASURE PLAY A ROLE (IF AT ALL) IN HOW YOU ORGANIZE YOUR WORKS IN SPACE?
My studio is full of pleasure -- a frenzy of paintings, sculptures, and mirrors are in constant rearrangement. I am attracted to this accumulation of material as composition, whether that is through mark-making, surface treatment, or objects in my installations. I use photography as a tool to flatten and frame. While my paintings present one point of view, there other moments in my larger installations where I play with the viewers’ by positioning mirrors or playing with reflections in the space. I love to take over space and think of many of my works as modular pieces that can expand or contract depending on their situation. Some parts can stand alone, but others need a relationship to feel supported. Often this modularity lends itself to recycling of objects or images, which continues as an evolving sculptural practice where the paintings act as punctuation marks in between.
Q: ONE COULD FIND THE COLORS YOU USE AS FAMILIAR, STRANGE, FEMININE, AND/OR PLAYFUL. TELL US ABOUT HOW YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR CHOICE OF COLOR. DOES A WORK EMERGE BASED ON THE SPACE IT WILL BE SHOWN IN OR IN THE STUDIO?
Color is one of the most important elements of my work and I use colors that provoke a range of emotions, from feeling seductive and natural to bright and artificial. I’m extremely intuitive with color and it’s a constant push and pull between what combinations create harmony or dissonance. I’m attracted to pink because of its associations with feminine spaces, but depending on how it’s positioned, can slip between feeling soft and sexy to repulsive or bodily. Regardless of the final outcome of a project, the work tends to take a life and personality of its own.
Q: YOU PLAN ON EXPERIMENTING DURING YOUR TIME AS A RESIDENT AT LATITUDE. WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT EXPLORING WHILE AT THE LAB?
I am excited to work in between digital and physical realms and think more critically about the role of photography in my studio practice. I’m hoping to experiment in both alternative and traditional printing processes that can become ingredients in my paintings and sculptural installations.
Q: WHAT IS INSPIRING YOU RIGHT NOW?
Jennifer Packer. Rachel Harrison. I recently saw some paintings by Tomo Campbell at Cob Gallery at Untitled that have stayed with me. Reading Maggie Nelson. “Hall of Mirrors” by Graham Bader about Roy Lichtenstein. Long walks through Humboldt Park in every season. Sunsets. The full moon.
MADELINE GALLUCCI
Madeline Gallucci is an artist and organizer living in Chicago, IL. She received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2012 and her MFA at the University of Chicago in 2020. Her work uses painting, sculpture, and photography to explore how societal expectations result in anxieties and celebrations of revealing our authentic selves. Madeline is a recipient of the 2016 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award and has held residencies at ACRE, Minnesota Street Project, Grin City Collective, and Kansas City’s historic Hotel Phillips. She has exhibited in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Kansas City, and elsewhere. From 2014-2018, Madeline was Co-Director of Front/Space, an artist-run project space located in Kansas City, MO. Her new project, RADAR, looks to further explore her interests of artist-as-curator and the intersections of these roles in midwestern communities.