Madison Noelle Spitzer

Artist Statement 

The theater is your mind. Who is watching from the audience? The stage is where others can see you. Do you reside in the spotlight or linger in the shadows? Backstage is where your secrets lie. What curtains are needed to keep them hidden? The dressing room is where you construct your character. What costume do you wear? The theater is also the mind of others. Whose theater do you visit? You purchase your ticket. How close or far away do you sit? You watch the performance. Can you see beyond the actor’s mask?

These are the questions that I ask myself when I am constructing a narrative, and the questions I implore others to ponder. Using the metaphor of the theater, I create work to make viewers self-aware; not in a negative manner, but an introspective one. The stories told on your stage— and those whispered behind the curtains— will form memories. The memories you make in this theater will be collected in bits and pieces and slowly stitched together like a patchwork quilt until a larger picture emerges. What narrative are you constructing?

Bio

Madison Noelle Spitzer is a painter and textile artist based in Southern California. She graduated with her Bachelor’s of Studio Arts from the University of Redlands in 2020 and Master's of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2023.

 Madison uses textile collage to investigate the world around her and contextualize such pieces of information into a larger, narrative form. Her use in media that is typically regarded as ‘domestic’ also stems from her investigations into the fine lines attempting to separate design, craft, and the Fine Arts, in addition to a strong family history of women who created through textiles but never considered themselves to be artists.

Through the imagery of the theater, film, and social media, her work is intended to spark conversation and self-awareness particularly regarding the topics of time, relationships, and the narrative quality of life. Madison’s work revolves around an intense desire to understand the role that memories and fantasies play when influencing our day-to-day decisions, how our interaction with technology influences those experiences, and as how such daily decisions impact the course of our futures.