Meg Madison

Meg Madison is an artist who uses photography to conceptually examine contemporary life. She was born and raised in New York City, studied film at San Francisco State University with Trinh T. Minh-ha who taught her “the things surrounding the subject are as important as the subject.” Madison moved to Los Angeles in 1988, and a series of traumatic events motivated her to purchase a twin-lens Rolleiflex and begin making photographs. After a decade of taking pictures Madison had her first solo art exhibit in 2005 with the Kristi Engle Gallery. This exhibit, Surface Streets, was called by Holly Meyers in the Los Angeles Times “a poetic visual essay that explores that most common of daily activities – driving – with fresh eyes.”

Madison continued showing with the Kristi Engle Gallery and has been involved in many collaborative art and photography projects as well as numerous group shows. Her photographs have won awards and are in many private and institutional collections. Madison has three artist books in the WIPI Yale Archive.

Madison has been involved in curatorial projects including the OIMOA (Optical Image Makers of America) NARRAATIVE SPACE show that was awarded Venice Arts First Fresh Perspective Curatorial Exhibit in 2013; PHOTO DISRUPTION, a 2006 photography show where the photograph is the material rather than the medium; and organizing community/fundraising art events, EAT DRINK ART 2012 etc., for LA Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall.The works depicted here are from 3 series:

“Letters to Mother” explores cultural ritual an in the form of the traditional birthday card. The series include 31 hand-written birthday cards, one for each day of the mother’s birthday “month”. The text reveals unresolved family drama in emotions bubbles of family secrets. This series also includes a handmade limited edition book.

“12.26” is a conceptual photo essay that documents the fate of evergreen trees after the Christmas holiday. The pictures ponder the transition of a potent sign after its usefulness has passes and it must be disposed. This series includes a handmade limited edition book and an exhibition catalog.

“Ruptured” are silver gelatin prints with hand stitched linen thread sewn on the print. The linen sewing augments the original photograph with the presence of new layer. The “girls at eleven” series are prints that Madison made in the 1990’s and is now sewing on with virginal white linen thread to highlight the transitional moment between girl and woman.

CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Ruptured, Project Space, Ave 50 Studio Gallery Los Angeles, Sept 2014
Rightsizing Narrative Los Angeles Center for Digital Art October 2013
Compare & Contrast, Wallspace Gallery, Los Angeles, Dec 2012
Past & Present: Boulder & The Crying Desert Joshua Tree October 2012
Rightsizing Narrative Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles, April 2010

12.26 Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles, Jan 2007
Surface Streets, Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles, Summer 2005
Still Live, Bickett Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina, November 2004
Memories of Childhood, LA Cultural Affairs’ Canoga Park Youth Art Ctr Gallery 2002

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
Being Here and There, MOAH Lancaster, November 2014, “100-FOOT Project”
Wilderness Mind: Dissolving Duality, Angles Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro 2012, “Runoff - Who Gets the Water in a Desert?”
REBUS Amelia Museum of Archeology, Amelia Italy Summer 2009, “Runoff - Who Gets the Water in a Desert?”
Zoom! Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Anchorage Museum of History & Art, Alaska, 2006 - 2007, Installation: “Surface Streets”
Drive Time Exhibit, Wignall Museum Gallery, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, 2005, Installation: “Surface Streets”

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
“Stitches”, Offramp Gallery, Pasadena CA Spring 2015
Being Here and There, MOAH Lancaster, November 2014
Heads Will Roll, Coagula Curatorial, August 2014
LA Contraventions, Gallery Merkel, Germany Sept 2014
Gallery Tally For Your Art, Los Angeles, April 2014
“Narrative Space” Venice Art Center, Los Angeles November 2013
Love for Sale: 200 clams, XVY Art Gallery, Los Angeles January 2013
Photography Exhibition, Palos Verdes Art Center, June –August 2012
Wilderness Mind: Dissolving Duality, Angles Gate Cultural Center,San Pedro 2012
Photo LA: Artist Invitational “LA Artist BookArts” Jan 2012
Yea Big: small works, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles Nov 2012
Chain Letter 2012, Shoshanna Wayne Gallery, LA Summer 2012
OUT THERE, “girls at eleven” series, Gallery 825, Los Angeles June 2011
Summer Reading, Letters to Mother, Stephen Cohen Gallery, LA Summer 2011
4th Annual Intl Plastic Camera Show, Rayco Photo Center, San Francisco March 2011
SEE THRU: FRACTAL, ICON Gallery, and Los Angeles October 2010
SEE THRU: FRACTAL, Gallery 825, Los Angeles August 2010
3rd Annual Juried Exhibition, Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura CA
BLUE PLANET, SomArt CENTER, SF July 2010
MEMORYS TOUCH, Broome Library Gallery, CSU Channel Islands 2010
GroupSC2009 Gallery Skart MOPLA Projection 2010
REBUS RECONSTRUCTURING, Center for the Art in Eagle Rock 2010
From the Center: Now! Woman Made Gallery, Chicago 2010
GroupLA2008, Los Angeles Art Show 2010
Group Show 33, Humble Arts Foundation, NY, hafny.org <http://hafny.org> Winter 2010
I SPY, A& I Photographic, December 2009
New & Improved II LACDA Los Angeles October 2009
REBUS Amelia Museum of Archeology, Amelia Italy July-August 2009
GroupLA2008 Gallery Skart, Santa Monica, April May 2009
Sustainability, Woodbury University Hollywood Exhibitions, March 2009
Christmas Show, Project Room, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Dec 2008
Thirteen: Photographers from Southern California, Cuesta College Art Gallery,
The Art of Photography Show 2007. Award Winner, Juried by Tim Wride, San Diego
Forever Lost? . Long View Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina, February 2007
Women’s Work is Never Done, Fullerton College Art Gallery, January 2007
That Show, Gallery Revisited, Los Angeles Dec 2006
TREE, Farmani Gallery, Los Angeles September 2006
Chain Letter, High Energy Constructs, Chinatown LA, 2006
Art World Poker I-5 Gallery at The Brewery Los Angeles 2006
BIANNUAL Curated by Jeremy Strick, LAAA South/Napoliollo Gallery, Hermosa Beach
Photo Exhibition: Techniques From 1860 to 2006, FIRST PLACE, Long Beach Arts
"Installed" directed by Barbara T. Smith, LAAA / Gallery 825, La Cienega, Los Angeles CA, “Ritual 1: Birthday” installation of Photographs, mixed media, and discarded objects.
Petite Works LAAA/ G825 Bergamont Station, Santa Monica, December
F Stops Here, Juried by Amanda Doenitz, Gallery 825 Los Angeles, CA
Innocence Lost, Juried by Eleana Del Rio, Gallery 825, La Cienega, Los Angeles,
F Stops Here, Juried by Tim Wride, Gallery 825 Los Angeles, CA 2004
Visual Vernacular, Juried by Noel Korten, Gallery 825 Los Angeles, CA 2004
Intl Fine Art Photography2004, Ctr. for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins MOCA, 3rd Pl
Still Life Exhibition, Photography Collective, Los Angeles 1998
New Photography 1998, Millard Sheets Gallery, Los Angeles County Fair, First
Spring Street Gallery Group Show August 1995, P.L.A.N. Photography Los Angeles Now with LACMA at the Unity Art Center July 1995
Photo Consortium Group Show, Random Gallery, May 1994

SELECTED AWARDS
Inaugural Fresh Perspectives Visiting Curator Award for “Narrative Space” Photo Show at Venice Art Center, November 2013
Curious Camera, 2nd Annual Competition, Curiouscamera.org Third Place 2010
Selected, Transformation Participating Spaces, FotoFest 2008
The Art of Photography Show 2007. Award Winner, Lyceum Theatre Gallery, San Diego
Photo Exhibition: Techniques From 1860 to 2006, FIRST PLACE, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach 2006
LACMA – Art Here And Now Program, Surface Streets, 2005/2006
ARTSEEN 2005, Emerging Artists Award, James Elaine, Howard Fox, jurors
Decisive Moments 2005, Women In Photography Intl., 2005, Third Place; Photography, Ctr. for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins MOCA, Colorado, 3rd Pl 2004
Alternative Photography Competition, Julia Dean Workshops, Venice 2nd Pl 1998
New Photography 1998, Los Angeles County Fair, First, and (4) HM

BOOKARTS
Meg Madison, The Stream of Life, Los Angeles 2012. Photography by Meg Madison, Text excepts from The Stream of Life by Clarice Lispector, Translated by E. Lowe & E. Fritz, Letterpress, Silver gelatin prints, Linen thread, Paper, Linen Cloth, 21 pages, Edition of 10.

Meg Madison, Letters to Mother Los Angeles 2010, in edition of 20. Deconstructed children’s book, Teddybears Cookbook, Susanna Gretz & Alison Sage, Doubleday 1978 with original 32 pages replaced by 34 pages of Artist Inserts. Original cover and flypaper retained

Meg Madison, Nine Thousand Ninety, Hand Sewn Booklet Edition of 20, Photos of Hands administering chemotherapy and radiation, 2008
Meg Madison, 12.26 Photographs of discarded Christmas tree in hand sewn binding by artist Charlene Matthews. Limited Edition of 20. December 2005

REVIEWS and PUBLICATIONS
2013
Betty Ann Brown, Artweek.LA, Other Visions, Other Venues: Two Indie Curatorial Projects in Los Angeles, November 2013
2012
Lisa Young De-Leon, Wallspace LA: Compare and Contrast, lifeinla.com <http://lifeinla.com> Dec 2012
Art Picks: Meg Madison, Photography Palos Verdes Art Center, Wilderness Mind: Dissolving Duality, Angles Gate Culture Center, This is the South Bay, July 6, 2012
ITCH Magazine, e-issue # 10, May 2012 www.itch.co.za/?article=668 <http://www.itch.co.za/?article=668>
2010
LAAA, Icon LA, & CalTech Connection, SEE THRU Catalog, Los Angeles 2010
Photo Techniques,<<Underexposed, Oct 2010, Rightsizing Narrative, Meg Madison, Los Angeles
BW Gallerist, Preview: Meg Madison at Kristi Engle Gallery, bwgallerist.com/2010/03/29 <http://bwgallerist.com/2010/03/29>
Tim B. Wride, The Curatorial Eye, Estate Sale , March 2010 curatorialeye.com/tag/meg-madison/ <http://curatorialeye.com/tag/meg-madison/>
2009
I SPY, A& I Photographic Publishing December 2009
2007
Hayden’s Ferry Review, 12.26 pictures, No. 41 2007 p 70. 71. 72
Jacquelyn Davis, “Meg Madison”, ArtUS May 2007, Page 27
Kim Beil, “Meg Madison at Kristi Engle Gallery”, Artweek. Volume 38. Issue 2. March 2007, Pg 18
12.26 Catalogue, 20 pages, 7.5" x 7.5" Essay by Holly Myers, Kristi Engle Gallery 2007
Holly Meyer, 12.26 Exhibition Catalog Essay, Kristi Engle Gallery, February 2007
Bill Lasarow, ”Continuing and Recommended”, ArtsScene, California. February 2007
2006
Anchorage Museum of History and Art, ZOOM! Planes, Trains & Automobiles 2006, Children’s Spiral Bound Catalog Book
2005
Meg Madison, 12.26 Photographs of discarded Christmas tree in hand sewn binding by artist Charlene Matthews. Limited Edition of 20. December 2005
Holly Myers, “Lie Down, Roll Over, But Never Beg, The Everyday Car Show”, Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2005
Elenore Welles, “July Preview- Meg Madison, Surface Streets”, Artscene, Cal July 2005, at Kristi Engle Gallery
FLM magazine, Spring 2005, Kelly Makes a Movie” cover photo
1994
The Photo Review (Photography Publication) Summer 1995, “Claire at 7” 1994

PROJECTS and CURATORIAL
OIMOA – Optical Image Makers of America, (with Kireilyn Barber & Walker) Inaugural Fresh Perspectives Visiting Curator Award for “Narrative Space” Group Photography show at Venice Art Center, Venice November 2013 with Kireilyn Barber, Anita Bunn, Bia Gayotto, Sant Khalsa, Meg Madison, Kyungmi Shin, Gregory Walker & Performance by Nancy Popp and Ali Tobias

Past & Present: Boulder & The Crying Desert Joshua Tree October 2012 with Barbara Desantis and David Ordaz. Site specific installation for HiWY 62 ART TOURS where visitors walk in the desert with map to assist in locating the boulders in the photos and hear the sound installation of inhabitants of the desert past and present. A bubbling brook under footbridge over a dried up wash, an early Native American chant, wailing woman, and others sounds.

EcoArts Collective (WCA) Wilderness Mind: Dissolving Duality Exhibition, Performance Day, & Panel at Angeles Gate Cultural Center. May –Aug 2012

SEE THRU : Assemble: After Le Dejeuner, 2010 A science-art collaboration with Dori Atalntis, Ching Ching Chen, & Mei Xian Qui with scientific guidance of Dr. Shin Shimojo creating a sculptural photographic installation that deconstructs a photograph into fragments for the viewer to construct by bits and pieces exploring perception and visual reconstruction.
GroupSC 2009 Curator, MOPLA Gallery Skart Santa Monica April 2010

photodisruption, Kristi Engle Gallery, July 15 to August 26 2006, Curator of group show featuring seven artists using photography as material. Suzanne Adelman, Danielle B. Ashton, Mimi Drop, Alyssa Gorlick, Lesley Krane, Rosalyn Myles, and Kyungmi Shin

Photography: NOW! Artspeak G825 November 2005, Panel discussion about collecting, producing, and appreciating photography with local Los Angeles writer, photography gallery director, and photographers.
“Teen Parents” photo essay/book project with visiting nurse/writer Blandine Hendelman on teen parents visits in South Central Los Angeles and other Southern California cities. Supporting change with photography in the lives of Los Angeles under served teen parents. 2003/2006

Metro Mural Project Barnsdall Art Park with Stuart Vaughn, Barnsdall, Los Angeles, March 1995 The opening exhibited 25 B&W prints by M Madison “Los Angeles Children Making Tiles” 1994-1995

FILMS
Surface Streets, 2005, cell phone videos of driving in Los Angeles. Edited with Stuart Robertson.
Leaving 1986, A woman’s journey leaving as she examines her relationship with sentimental objects that arouse memory. 16mm short
Not a Through Street 1987, two women discuss relationships and sex while driving.16mm short

EDUCATION
BA Film San Francisco State University 1987
Otis College of Art (photography courses) 1993-1996

ARTIST BOOKS in WIPI YALE ARCHIVE
The Stream of Life
Photographs by Meg Madison
Los Angeles 2005
No. 3 of 10
Book Description:
Twelve silver gelatin prints are hand sewn with linen thread on Stonehenge paper and interspersed with five quotes on from the novel “The Stream of Life” (Agua Viva) by Clarice Lispector, Translated by Elizabeth Lowe & Earl Fitz, University of Minnesota Press1989. The quotes are letter pressed on Stonehenge paper in Univers type and printed at Lab Press, Otis College of Art & Design. Each page is hinged with linen and bound with black canapetta book cloth made in Italy in binding designed by Charlene Matthews. There is one HC and & an edition of ten.
© 2014 meg madison all rights reserved

Letters to Mother
A month of Birthday Wishes
Text & Photographs by Meg Madison
The Bindery
Los Angeles 2010
No. 5 of 20
Book Description:
Teddybears Cookbook “ Letters to mother” is a handmade limited edition of 20 that alters the original children’s book by inserting the artists birthday cards to her mother. The original hardcover is, Teddybears Cookbook by Susanna Gretz, & Alison Sage, Doubleday & Company, New York, New York, U.S.A., 1978. The original cover, binding and flypaper are retained with the substitution of 34 pages of artist inserts. Los Angeles, 2010
© 2012 meg madison all rights reserved
12.26
Photographs by Meg Madison
Binding by Charlene Matthews
Los Angeles 2005
No. 2 of 20

Book Description:
12.26 Photographs by Meg Madison, Los Angles, 2005Sq 8vo, 20 recto-only color photo-plates. Cloth with blindtooled leather millimeter edges, onlaid color photo-illus, slipcase with blindtooled leather millimeter edges, new. Limited Edition of 20 copies only, signed and numbered by the artists. The award-winning photographer's conceptual photo-essay, a serio-comic series depicting the short, lonely and tragic life of post-Christmas Christmas trees. Binding designed and handcrafted by renowned Los Angeles binder Matthews in backed Irish linen with images printed in archival Ultrachrome pigment ink on Hahnemuhle fine art paper.
© 2011 Meg Madison all rights reserved Meg Madison

UPDATE: Photographer NO response - NO NEW BIO UPDATES: APRIL 2014 - APRIL 2017

Women In Photography International Charter Member

Meg Madison
Los Angeles, CA 
meg@megmadison.com
http://www.megmadison.com/