Madelyn Covey
Instagram: @madypants
Website: https://madelyncovey.com
Bio: I am a Richmond, CA based artist working primarily in painting and drawing. I was born in Sacramento, CA, and have been an East Bay resident since 2005. I received my MFA in Fine Arts from Mills College in 2012 and my BA from UC Berkeley in 2008. I currently facilitate painting and drawing at Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, as well as their Saturday Youth Program.
Statement: My artwork focuses on people and how they perform aspects of their identities and inner selves. I have always loved painting portraits of my friends, community members, and pop culture obsessions, using housemates, folks dressed up at comic book conventions, celebrities, and screencaps of TV shows as subject matter.
My current portraits are part of a series that reflects on domesticity and intimacy, as I evaluate my life’s trajectory through portraits of lovers, close friends, my friends’ children, and my family. Even before everyone had a cell phone with a high definition camera with them all of the time, I would carry a little point and shoot with me to document moments I found funny or intriguing. I use these photos to help capture the joy and love I find in the people in my life, and translate that into my painting practice. The found wallpaper I paint on references the domesticity of my subjects, and also allows me to build the image in relation to what already exists on the surface. Through meditating on my subjects’ features and body language, I feel connected to them, and in that way more connected to the world.
