Artospective: Collages by an American Artist Madeline McLaughlin.

An Interview with Madeline McLaughlin.

Who and where are you from?

My name is Madeline McLaughlin. I am an American artist, based in Los Angeles, CA.

What brought you to Art?

I cannot remember a time when art was not a part of my life. I was extremely fortunate to have creative parents who thrust crayons into my hands the minute I could hold them. As a child, I was constantly drawing, acting, painting, knitting, sewing, filmmaking, sculpting—if you could think of a craft, I would do it. I loved creating something out of nothing. I was a very, very shy kid, so art became a way to express myself to others. Throughout my life, I have explored so many different art forms and could not imagine existing without art.

What is your driving force?

Quite frankly, I’d go insane from boredom if I didn’t create. My mind goes about a million miles per hour, and without a creative outlet, the world can morph into something rather banal and painful. I have to make something, anything, to simply survive this planet I was assigned to (haha.) In all seriousness, it is what brings me to others. When my words fail me, my artwork articulates my thoughts for me. I am driven to communicate with those around me in the most genuine way possible; and that is through my artwork.

What kind of work you do and why?

Although I had dabbled in seemingly every art form within the Michael’s Craft Store inventory, I somehow fell into digital art quite recently, and well, sorta kinda fell in love. I studied film at NYU and from there have explored archive footage and photoshop techniques. Through finding experimental filmmakers I liked, I stumbled upon digital collage artists and thought the very original thought - “Oh I could do that!” But then I, well, did actually do that. I found it was a way to take so much of the imagery I had stored in my brain from film and pop culture, and transform those pre-existing images into something completely new.

Tell us more about your thought process.

Through the medium of digital collage, I explore a variety themes such as death, heartache, anxiety and loneliness. So all the stuff that’s just cooking up into a surrealist soup in my brain and that I have to dish out in consumable dosages or else it explodes all over the kitchen that is my reality (haha.) I manipulate ready-made images that range from pulp comics, movie posters, and old photographs, to vintage novel covers and classic paintings; I divorce them from their former intention and meaning; and create worlds, characters, and situations that are wholly unique. With my collages, I am able to manipulate the imagery and completely recontextualise what they evoke. I aim to combine images in a way that would never be expected from there first conception.

Please share with us the one modern artist whose work you find Interesting and why?

One artist that I totally and completely admire is the watercolor artist, Michelle Avery Konczyk. Although I don’t usually work in watercolor, it is a medium that I have such great reverence for, as it is a very difficult and under-appreciated form. Koncsyk’s watercolors are both thought-provoking and impressive. She too works with surreal and dark imagery which inspires me daily.