Life & Work with Madeline Marak of Brookside

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline Marak

Madeline, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Art has always been my way of interpreting and understanding the world around me. Growing up, I was always encouraged to be creative and see things in a different way. I was always surrounded by things being made- music, dances, food, stories, photos.

My interests in art led me to study painting in college and grad school. In school, I became interested in the history of landscape painting and its reflection of humanity’s evolving relationship with the natural world. I became more and more invested in my own relationship with the outdoor spaces around me in my daily life.

My interests in art and being outside has also led me to make public artworks. I enjoy interacting with the public and hearing their reactions to my work. I always learn a new perspective on how to look at things when involved with community art projects.

I currently create work out of my studio space in the West Bottoms alongside my shih tzu-poodle mix, Penny. I continue to explore my relationship with nature, particularly within the context of the urban, altered spaces of the Anthropocene through abstract landscape paintings and photography.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I was very young, chronic ear infections hindered my verbal communication, making visual expression a natural outlet. Art really helped me work out feelings of frustration or overwhelm when words or verbal expression were unavailable.

As an adult, I still have a disconnect between verbalizing feelings and my body’s experience of them. Art helps me to connect my mind and my body. Whether it’s looking at art or creating it, I relate more to physical, tangible objects. Art allows me to experience emotions in a more direct way, bypassing the limitations of language, and bridging my inner and external world.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I primarily create abstract representations of urban landscapes- taking inspiration from the neighborhoods I have lived. My creative process begins with observation. I photograph the spaces that captivate me during walks, bike rides, and car trips. These images serve as a starting point for my paintings and often are included in the works themselves.

I’m drawn to oil paint as my main medium due to its ability to faithfully match observed colors, its slow drying time, and tactile application. I am captivated by its rich history and techniques, that remain largely unchanged over the years.

I also incorporate experimental digital photography techniques in my work. I utilize flexible lenses, blurred filters, and cheap point-and-shoot cameras to push the boundaries of conventional representation. I’m more interested in a photograph that contains the essence of an image rather than documenting every detail.

I have always been captivated by the blurred backgrounds and crisp foregrounds in family photos from my childhood that my father would take with his 35mm film camera. The play between softness and clarity in my work references the way we see, our vision being sharp in the center and soft in the peripheral.

I incorporate visual distortions created by the camera lens and painted grid structures into my work as a way to acknowledge the framework, lens, or guise through which we view the world around us. I select images that evoke a sense of familiarity and simultaneously distance to reveal a mediated space between reality and my experience of it.

What matters most to you? Why?
In the context of art, what propels me the most is curiosity. My work continues to evolve through experimentation of materials and exploration of my surroundings. My work has taught me to slow down, that stillness is hard, and looking takes time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://madelinemarak.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/madelinemarak
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeline-marak-624b90130/