Madison Warp
Artist Statement
My paintings serve as feminist adaptations of biblical stories set in the current year, emphasizing the power and influence the narratives still have in mainstream culture and politics in the United States. The paintings take scenes from the bible that villainize or oppress women, and bring the circumstances of the biblical text into modern times through the combination of commonplace contemporary settings and biblical symbolism. Through these images, I explore the harmful and oppressive underlying themes that the original bible passages allude to, such as villainizing women for indulging in pleasure or taking away their choices regarding their own bodies. One of the paintings explores the Annunciation and the other the Garden of Eden.
The Annunciation 2021 speaks to the unseen yet all powerful forces that negate women’s choices surrounding their bodies when it comes to pregnancy and abortion rights, an issue that is greatly influenced by the biblical excerpt that the piece is named after.
The Garden of Eden 2021 brings the original cautionary narrative of self-indulgence and pleasure into modern times. The Eve of 2021 sips her wine, relaxes on her couch, and is not self-conscious of her relaxed appearance and self indulgent state, though contemporary society insists she should feel otherwise. Though she appears relaxed and unashamed, her face reads as weary and pessimistic of the judgement women still face in indulging in these non-glamorous moments. In essence, the pieces reiterate the political and cultural power that these archaic religious stories still have on women’s representation and rights. My aim is to open up a discourse and consider whether these biblical passages should still hold the power that they do in relation with current feminist issues.
Painting & Drawing
Madison Warp is an American visual artist based in Boulder, Colorado. She seeks to explore the double standards, objectification, and sexualization of women in popular culture through her art. Figure study is at the heart of her artistic practice, and allows her to explore her feminist critique through creating her own narratives surrounding feminine form. She aims to create works that celebrate the female body, explore the contradictory expectations of women in popular culture, and create worlds where women are empowered by the same institutions that would oppress them.
Madison Warp is in the process of earning her bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in drawing and painting from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she has also completed a degree in international affairs and a minor in art history. She has participated in a variety of exhibition programming internships with institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the City of Lafayette Arts and Cultural Department, and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. She now works as the Education Programs Assistant at BMoCA. Her work will be shown in her upcoming BFA group exhibition, Ephemeral Decay, in the spring of 2021.
Her work has been shown in group exhibitions such as Welcome to San Luis Valley , Error. (404): PAGE NOT FOUND, and CU Boulder’s juried King Exhibition in 2020 and 2021. She will be an artist in residence for the summer of 2021 at the New York Academy of Art, and hopes to expand her practice technically and conceptually through this experience.
The Annunciation 2021 Oil on Canvas 46x58 Inches
The Garden of Eden 2021, Oil on Canvas 46x58 Inches