A solo Exhibition

Dungog Contemporary 23 August - 23 September 2018

Theatre Of Objects is the latest body of work from Newcastle based artist Madeleine Cruise. Like much of Madeleine’s recent work, this series continues to investigate the relationship between art and life and the meditative role of painting.

With a new found appreciation for the Still Life genre, Theatre of Objects is Madeleine’s most representational series to date and demonstrates an artistic shift in her practice. However, unlike traditional still life paintings, the vessels depicted in Madeleine’s works are far from inanimate and appear more like protagonists on a painterly stage. Attributed with character and emotion, the everyday household items enact conundrums, vent frustrations, debate and console one another. As such, Madeleine uses painting to chart emotional terrain and gives physicality to internal frustrations. Painting title’s such as: Winners keep on winning and Keep your enemies close, are examples of the social framework and internal dialogue that the artist has used as the thematic basis for this series of work.

Theatre of Objects reveals the artists’ appreciation of the home as a sanctuary and an important source of identity. Based on the interiors of her own home and garden Madeleine has carefully composed paintings that re evaluate the status of common objects and domestic tasks and aligned them with the status of ritual.