Mady:
My Art is a Confession to the World
Mady was born in Bonaventure, Quebec, Canada. She’s been exhibiting since 1985, and internationally since 1990, with exhibitions in Wesserstrand Inter Art Gallery in Nordenham, Germany, Naffouj Gallery in Landstuhm, Germany, a retrospective (1980-2000) at Musée
Acadien du Quebec and Monument National in Montreal. , in Montreal, Quebec.
Art critic Jules Arbec (1996) writes about Mady: “An apprenticeship in drawing has marked the various stages of her development, constituting a means of surrounding space and above all giving back, often disconcertingly, the most intimate emotions . . . little by little, this methodical approach softens, the line becomes liberated . . . these stretched forms break, their links with reality become an emotional breath which marks the passing from description to emotion.”
MONTREAL SERAI: When did you discover you had a gift for painting?
MADY: According to my Mother, I was already drawing at the age of 3. I did my first oil painting at the age of 11 or 12.
MS: You are self-taught?
MADY: Yes. Though not by choice. Several art schools rejected my candidacy.
MS: And how did that affect you?
MADY: It made me even more determined, because I’ve always been able to paint. My teachers have always singled me out as the one who can draw and illustrate.
MS: So how did you teach yourself?
MADY: By looking at the works of the masters again and again, trying to figure out how they did certain things, incorporating them into my own work when necessary. Like with all the arts, you have to learn the basic techniques – there is no getting around that.
MS: I can see that your work is very layered and may require weeks and even months to complete. Do you find it frustrating that certain minimalist painters, whose works are comprised of no more than one or two colors or stripes, are receiving huge sums of money and recognition for their work?
MADY: I don’t envy them because I would never choose to do what they do. I can only say that, thus far, minimalist work hasn’t touched me; it seems to say nothing – to me, that is. I don’t have time to worry about what other artists are doing. I have my own work in front me, I have something to say and I want to say it to the best of my ability.
MS: Why do you paint?
MADY: I have to paint. Painting is my oxygen. If I’m not painting I begin to lose my equilibrium, my understanding of what is happening around me. Life is so busy and complicated nowadays, with so many things competing for our attention. Painting helps me to think clearly, to make sense of life’s contradictions and dislocations, and to focus on what is essential in my life, and in life in general.
MS: Who have been your artistic influences?
MADY: When I was in my early teens I was fascinated by the work of Géricault (Raft of the Medusa) and El Greco. When I was in my early twenties I discovered Otto Dix and Georg Grosz. Recently I have been very impressed by the art of Charlotte Salomon.
MS: Have there been other influences?
MADY: Some of the work of Virginia Wolf, and the philosophy of Plato.
MS: What is the central idea or impulse that drives your art?
MADY: I suppose I could be accused of being obsessed with life and death. Ours is a culture that is in denial regarding the latter. I don’t believe you can live a truly meaningful life without thinking about death. I try to enter into this large gray area -- or paradox -- through painting, by going beneath the surface to get to the soul of things, of bodies, trying to recreate memories, or states of mind that bring me to the great mystery and miracle of my existence. I very much believe in the existence of mnemonic space, and I try to recreate that feeling through painting.
