Statement + Bio

Madelyn Roldan (b. 2003). is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist currently pursuing her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a concentration in both painting and fiber arts. Her works delve into identity, culture, queerness, ailments, memory and dream sequences. Her body of work focuses on a sense of surrealism to abstract. A push and pull relationship between the art movements.

The materials that orbit in my process are oil paint, and fibers. For fiber projects, all materials are from second hand sources. In a world full of constant consumption, there's this gravitational pull to use materials that are not brand new. The proposition is reinventing those materials. To give a new life. In my body of work I investigate family structure, space, isolation and sexuality. In my fiber piece No Entendo, the applique that is painted on the blouse is inspired by the sawdust carpets in Guatemala that they create for Holy Week. The flashing images that are projected onto the blouse are old family photos and images that I took during my visit in Guatemala. The sawdust carpets are meant to be walked on during the Holy Week parade. Guatemala is part of my culture and No Entendo is how I feel so close and yet so distant from it. Throughout this piece themes of imagined worlds and fragmented memory are intertwined. It’s a constant conversation about what I know and what I don't know. The current process of my work is still being developed. For future projects I plan to create more works combining oil and fiber materials together.