ABOUT ME

I'm Medicine Madison, and I am an interdisciplinary artist.

I believe that art is a tool which, if used appropriately, enables a powerful spiritual renaissance. My affinity for Classical beauty is clearly visible in my street photography, my love for simplicity is shown through my photography of nature, there are plenty of encounters with the Grotesque in my self portraiture, and my raw, primitive and expressionistic side is revealed in my paintings.

My primary interests are photography and painting, yet my extensive artistic experience spans across several mediums such as drawing, design, fashion design, jewelry making, sculpture, video and animation. I'm always interested in trying new art forms and acquiring more knowledge. Besides visual art, I also started studying classical violin in 2016.

My works are held in private collections across the world (in Italy, in Greece, in the United States, in Israel, and in Romania).

You can read my artist statement - The Black Manifesto - here.

ABOUT MY WORK: PHOTOGRAPHS

There are two areas in which I am interested: street photography, and self portraiture. I will briefly discuss them both.

My street photography mainly (but not exclusively) involves architecture, especially old buildings or other architectural elements. I have photographed a plethora of cities in several European countries: Italy, Romania, Greece, Slovenia and Austria. I take these photographs in order to record the essence of each of the places I have visited.

I often choose to photograph old buildings, in an attempt to expose the world as it was in the past, when beauty was present in every aspect of human life: buildings, furniture or all sorts of everyday objects. I somehow live in the past, and I keep modern technology at a minimum level in my life. I want the photograph to evoke the time in which the house has been built.

I also photograph nature - the beauty of nature never ceases to amaze me.

My self portraits are the closest to my spirit, because they involve a powerful metamorphosis, an exorcism of sorts, a reincarnation. The self-portrait, in my case, always involves a mask. It might be a physical mask or a metaphorical one. The mask has many forms but, contrary to popular belief, a mask does not cover, instead, it reveals, when the mask is made by the person who wears it.

This is the role of my masks. Any sensation is hyperbolized when I step into the role. The intimate spectacle of my self-portraiture commences before I even start photographing myself. I force myself to enter a mental state specific to the ongoing project. I always watch myself in the mirror while I am building my characters, so I have the privilege of being the circus and audience at the same time.

I decided to shave my head in order to expand my self portraiture possibilities. The bald head has been a common enough motif throughout my paintings, therefore, it was bound to escape my paintings and enter my own life. But shaving my head also offers opportunities for personal development. In this way, art is a tool that can be used to carve one's life, and life itself can become a form of art.

You can read an interview and article about my self portraits (in Romanian) here.

ABOUT MY WORK: PAINTINGS

Primitive civilizations believed that art is sacred - primitive artists painted their deepest desires in a quest to turn them into reality. Several times it happened to me, I would paint, draw, or write something, and after a while, those exact things I created appeared in my life, as if I had called them to me, and even if I hadn't wished for some of those things to happen, they still came. Art is powerful and those we call today "primitive" had this notion, a notion now lost by our contemporary society. Art has this incredible shamanic quality to it, and once I learned about it, I became enlightened, and now I know that I need to paint what I want in my life. I can now use my art to bring beauty in the world.

Curator Elena Ghiţoiu about my solo exhibition "A Primitive Nature" (excerpt):

"(...)These works carry an eerie and singular expression of primitive beauty, which is emphasized by a stylized figurativism reduced to essential traits.

The works signed by Medicine Madison employ a peculiar form of anthropomorphism, associated with vegetal elements. The powerful graphism of the brush strokes and the geometry of the shapes contrast with the fragility and softness of the vegetation, often encountered in the pictorial space. The artist's complexity is witnessed by the variety of the plastic techniques used: clay modelling, painting on canvas, glass and wood, embroidery and clay interventions on canvas. All these are based on the chameleonic nature of the human figure mostly materialized in a wide range of visual expression. (...)"

You can read an interview and article about my paintings (in Romanian) here.

EXHIBITIONS

• 2022 – Group exhibition, experimental video, "01:43:29", curator Mummy Maskara, Domatio, Solomou 55, 10432, Athens, Greece
• 2022 – Group exhibition, painting on canvas and drawing on paper, "Noaptea Artiştilor Vii (tr. Night Of The Living Artists)", curator Cristian Cojanu, assistant curator Elena Ghiţoiu, project manager Irina Damaskin, 1001 Arte, Calea Victoriei 91-93, Bucharest, Romania
• 2018 – Group exhibition, photography and paintings on canvas and wood, "Sinistrul/The Sinister", curator Diane Popescu, KunstRaum 153, Calea Victoriei 153, Bucharest, Romania
• 2017 – Solo exhibition, paintings on canvas, wood, clay and glass, "A Primitive Nature", curator Elena Ghiţoiu, Galeria Occidentului, Bucharest, Romania
• 2016 - Group exhibition, paintings on canvas, "Exografic", an event held within Noaptea Albă a Galeriilor (White Night of Galleries) 10th edition, Curators: Mihaela Munteanu-Streck, Elena Ghițoiu, Gibril Medical Clinic (Daniel Constantin street, no.21), Bucharest, Romania
• 2015 – Solo Diploma exhibition, photography and paintings on canvas and wood, "Self Portrait - Identity and Spirit", curator Elena Ghiţoiu, Plantelor 47, Bucharest, Romania
• 2014 – Solo exhibition, paintings on canvas and wood, "Work For Pleasure", curator Elena Ghiţoiu, Grand Cafe Galleron, Bucharest, Romania
• 2014 – Group exhibition, paintings on canvas, Alandala Club, Bucharest, Romania
• 2013 – Group exhibition, drawings, curator Alexandra Croitoru, Dianei 4, Bucharest, Romania
• 2011 – Group exhibition, photography, Artyourself Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
You can see photographs captured at my recent exhibitions here.

FILM

In 2021 my documentary movie "Suita Titan (tr. The Titan Suite) won the Audience Award, also known as the Luis Bacalov Award, at the 39th edition of Bellaria Film Festival in Bellaria Igea Marina, Italy. This is a prestigious Italian film Festival which has been held every year in Bellaria, a charming seaside resort on the Adriatic coast since 1983. You can watch the movie here.