{Style Sessions with...} Lisa Madigan
{STYLE SESSIONS WITH...} LISA MADIGAN - Artist & Store Owner
Fellow Van Gogh and Botticelli lover and a favourite on the blog - LISA MADIGAN shares her passion for Williamsburg oils & fresh linens, local produce & entertaining in her country cottage, her dreams of studio time in NYC, and the untamed heart behind her latest collection WILD AT HEART...
What is the inspiration behind your latest series? WILD AT HEART is ultimately a collection of the untamed heart, uncovered, laying bare the purity & momentum of suspended substance, experience, observation & sensation. The series takes me into my own wilderness & dances between the line of being quite strongly grounded in a sense of landscape but then shifts into an ethereal & transitory realm that knows no bounds. As always the titles of my work tell a story, they hint at a thread & direction but ultimately everyone takes their own. I am in pursuit of the expression of beauty & nothing can be beautiful unless there has been some sense of straddled agony, there's a greater depth, like the sunshine after a storm, those moments both literal & figurative I embrace in my works.
How would you describe your signature style? Raw & polished. Tactile & delicious. Abundant & bare. Honest & intuitive & always from the heart.
Which designers/artists send you weak at the knees? I love work that is from a place of unwavering integrity & truth, pieces that have an energy that's palpable, pieces that make my pulse race & my temperature rise or plummet, pieces that make my heart sing & the purity of a moment to shine in what seems to be an eternity. From art to architecture to nature in it's most pure form & everything in between, there's just so much to appreciate. Being immersed in the works of Van Gogh in Amsterdam is something that will never leave me, it was such an intensely emotional journey, gazing adoringly at the works of Turner likewise I buckle & soar, being stripped naked by a Rothko, I could do it everyday, having my breath taken away by Bacon or Vermeer or Botticelli. Needless to say, there are many.
On a note that is closer to home, I am loving some of the beautiful bits & pieces we have in store at the moment. The gorgeous Voyager candles, inspired by gardens from around the world, they're truly divine. Shibori I am forever in love with. We have the wonderful Armadillo & Co. rugs & table mats that are just so versatile & apt for our Australian climate & open sky style. Products & designs that have integrity & intelligence & quality get my rocks off & that is what we aim to showcase at the store in tandem of course with fine art & our exciting calendar of events & exhibitions.
What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning? Knowing that another day is another opportunity for adventure & experience & expression, life really is what we make it. "Time is so precious & I don't want to live a pedestrian life, I'm here to encounter & create & connect through the brush. Every day in some way, no matter how simple or small should be a celebration, even the bad days can shine"
If you could travel anywhere tomorrow where would it be? New York, New York!!! I would have my suitcase packed in a heartbeat. The big apple has been calling my name for a while & I'm keen to get over there soon. It's the city of all cities & I can't wait to explore it & lap up all it has to offer, from the Guggenheim to the High Line to Williamsburg, take me away. It's also a destination where I want to exhibit & I'm contemplating some studio time over there next year. Italy & India & our red centre are also high on the list & I have a hankering to one day take my husband to the Himalaya.
EATING: Loving shaved raw beetroot & fennel salads with a good dose of squeezed orange & whatever is fresh & fabulous from our local growers market, always with plenty of garden herbs. We had some lovely friends down the other weekend & feasted on twice cooked pork belly & pickled baby vegetables with lots of champagne & a spiced crumble with home made pear sorbet for dessert. Love entertaining in our little cottage & I love that everyone always squishes into the kitchen, the tiniest room in the house but it has a lot of heart. Our kitchen is all about the produce first, inspiration always comes when you have something fabulous & fresh to work with. We're also so lucky to have the wonderful John Evans at the Berry Sourdough for delicious local dinners & Biota is also pretty incredible, so nice to have a vibrant food scene happening down here now. Craving another trip to both CIRCA and QUAY & picking fresh white peaches off our tree in summer.
READING: Vanity Fair, Habitus & Lust for Life by Irving Stone, plus the stacks of books that sit patiently in waiting. Loved three cups of tea & anything by Alain de Botton, brilliant, I can be a bit of a non fiction kind of girl. Loved reading snippets from Toby Smith's Coffee Trails. Anything that offers intelligent insights & a broadening of awareness, through gorgeous liquid prose or pure fact. There's always plenty of the paperless kind, copious amounts of emails & the odd New York Times article. I honestly tend to write more than read at the moment.
LOVING: The sunshine. The first glimmers of spring. My new stash of Williamsburg oil paints & fresh linens. Studio time {always, always loving & craving that}. My man & my Oberon & Mia. Burning inspirations & a hot heart.
Any new exciting projects on the horizon for LISA MADIGAN? There's always something new on the horizon & I have some super exciting things in the mix... The dialogue & continuum of my work is never ending, always evolving, ever pressing & ever present & it is at the very core of who I am & I can't wait to share what's coming out of the studio next. I'm currently working on a new portraiture series & some lovely commissioned works & new works on paper for the store. There is so much work just ripping at my chest to get out & it's then the balance & dance of an elegant mess, the intuitive & thoughtful adventure of being an artist.
Big news for the store too, we now have our new coffee machine & we're so close to having it up & running, so stay tuned, soon you'll be able to enjoy a seriously good coffee with us, Toby's Estate of course. We're also delighted to be welcoming the sublime Baritone David Greco to the store for a recital on the 10th November 2012. David has performed with The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony & Opera Australia to name a few, he now resides in Europe with a heady performance schedule, so we're very lucky to have him for one night. For further details & to book your tickets contact the store on info@lisamadigan.com.au & prepare to swoon.There are plenty of new goodies in the online store too, gorgeous locally crafted ceramics, the amazing studded skulls by Jane Frosh, new works on paper, things to make your heart sing. Right now, I'm diving right back in to the studio to finish my 'self portrait' for entry into this years Portia Geach...