Collection: Lindsay Madden

Lindsay Madden is a figurative painter who explores, through painting, objects and photographs, the theme of childhood and growing up. 

The timeless honesty in children’s body language is the focus of Lindsay’s work, adopting playful narratives that connect the past to that which remains relevant in adulthood. Lindsay’s interest lies in the uninhibited freedom of children, often juxtaposing the freedom that children feel while playing, throwing handstands and cartwheels for example, against and within, the rigid constraints and limitations of a ruler.

Using objects associated with schooldays, chalkboards, vintage school rulers, book covers and vintage gameboards as an alternative canvas, to communicate our longing to hold on to the past.

The combination of chalk and paint acknowledge the ephemeral nature of youth, the inclusion of vintage rulers are a nod to the notion of continual measurement (physical, mental, and academic) against peers, siblings and the wider world.

Lindsay’s work has a sense of nostalgia and, at the same time, offers a reflection on the bittersweet essence of childhood, inviting the viewer to probe their own personal and individual memory archives and bring their own narratives into play.

Lindsay graduated from Sunderland university in 2013 with a first-class honours degree in Fine Art and is represented by several galleries in the UK. She has exhibited in the National Open Art Competition at Somerset House and has been selected for the Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries multiple times..