Madeline Garrett | Industrial Strength Artist Statement

My newest collage and paintings are now hanging at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara in my solo show Industrial Strength. It took a massive amount of Industrial Strength to complete the show while focusing on this concept of industrial strength and what it means to my studio practice and ultimately the work that was accomplished. So I wrote an Industrial Strength artist statement to reflect the work.

​Industrial Strength connotes "extremely powerful, intense, durable, more concentrated than the standard brand." My newest work has been intensified with protests and prayers woven into multiple layers of hand-painted papers, stenciling, reduction techniques, and torn images from my archive of street photography. Chaotic urban environments with demolished walls, raw graffiti, and gritty patterns all make their way into Industrial Strength. 
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My idea for Industrial Strength has been brewing for over 30 years, absorbing city images until it started to flow out of my fingertips in an orchestration of color and energy. I am fascinated ​by the volume of graffiti covering almost any surface – walls, fences, railings, train cars, utility boxes, dumpsters. There is something about the rhythm, 

Live Your Dreams  12x12" mixed media collage  on panel

the color, and the energy that speak so strongly to me. I admire the boldness of street artists to create something bursting with color when the walls and fences are otherwise concrete ugliness, and the bravery to have the vision and find a place to make their imprint by hanging from billboards and rooftops. I am not glorifying vandalism of personal property or hate tags between gangs – that is not ok with me – but beautifying old neglected walls has an astounding worthiness that makes the world a little brighter, which I think is a brilliant and brave thing to do

Photography has become my method of examining this world zooming in closer and closer, not to understand or interpret, but to feel and embrace the beauty/chaos, the angst, the hint of meaning in the images. My tradition of searching for the mysterious and unknown has extended to the urban walls covered with street art that occurs mostly during late night hours, somewhat encrypted and unpredictable. The mystery is there and I love it..

Alley in Haight Ashbury, a fine example of graffiti on dumpsters, utility boxes, stairwells. Photograph by Madeline Garrett (2014)

The collage pieces contain many of my photographs from NYC, Haight Ashbury, Alcatraz, and Chinatown (San Francisco), in patterns of abstracted sections, torn and re-built into something that echoes in my soul. I've tagged my own paintings. I've written Industrial Strength protests and prayers with Industrial Strength attitude to make a difference in a broken world. We all need Industrial Strength to do what's right, kind and decent. Not just for one single religion, country, race or creed, but for all of us that share this planet earth.

Industrial Strength is on view through November 16th at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, 229 E. Victoria St, Santa Barbara, CA. Gallery hours are Saturdays from 1pm-4pm and by appointment (please call AFSB at 805-965-6307).
 
~Madeline