Vanessa Madrid is a sculptor and painter based in Los Angeles. Her current work is an investigation into the vulnerabilities of the body and psyche, and states of transition. The essential components of humanness, as evidence of the journey of living beings towards transcendence, are the undercurrents running through her work. States of transition, of indecision and wavering, the unraveling or becoming that indicate a state of flux are the generative foundation for this body of work. Vinyl wall sculptures are upholstered in shapes that are elemental, familiar, like something remembered but not understood. Caught in mid-transition, it is not clear exactly what they are moving towards or away from. Rather, they have the duality of becoming and un-becoming simultaneously. Soft and yet somehow threatening, the works are charged. They touch on modernist sculpture but with lightness in both mood and material. Soft, and yielding, her work is both a reflection of the human body’s vulnerability and homage to its strength.
Vanessa Madrid teaches painting, design, drawing and art theory at colleges throughout Southern California. She earned her MFA in Sculpture and Installation in 2004 from Claremont Graduate University, and her BA in Applied Design from San Diego State University in 1995.