Curatorial Projects > Rebellious Integration

Madsen’s art addresses numerous social issues, chief among them the lack of understanding and empathy for people of differing races and beliefs. Through her art she questions the greed of large companies at the expense of people and the environment expressing her desire to combat the hatred and intolerance being taught within many cultures. She believes that the angry activist diatribe to no longer be an effective strategy. Her work seeks to blur the boundaries between fine art, advertising, and pop culture by using provocative imagery, a sense of humor and wit. Madsen uses a cast of characters she has collected and photographed over the years that are blithely campy, sinister, creepy, nostalgic, but nonetheless allude to the fact that everything is not quite right in the world. The underlying meaning of the images seeping below the surface of the subconscious becomes a transient stratified memory on the cortex.

In the realm of public art Madsen’s work commenced after September 11, 2001 with the billboards “Eye 4 Eye=Blind” in Jersey City, and “Revenge Never Ends” in Newark, New Jersey. The outdoor works continued in the spring of 2005 with three banners in the metropolitan Washington, D. C. area. “Oh!” was at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; “Fear and Paranoia Win” was at Studio 1515 on 14th street, and “Who Decides Our Future” was at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Springs, Maryland.


www.barbaramadsen.net