Artist Conversation #2

Artist: Madeline Kincanna
Exhibition: Politico
Media: Dry point etching
Gallery: Dr.Maxine Merlino Gallery
Website: N/A
Instagram: N/A

Madeline is an undergraduate student that is part of the BFA Printmaking program in the CSULB School of Art. She’s interested in many things such as political issues, landscapes, and nature. Her work explores ideas such as difficult political opinions that people today are nervous to talk about among each other or the beauty in nature / landscapes. However, for this gallery, the work that really spiked my interest and sparked a conversation between the artist and I was her political works. I could tell they were very opinionated and on subjects that people like to avoid which made me excited to talk about them with her and see what she was thinking when she made them.

Her work was bright, very metaphorical, the texture was smooth and appealing for your eye to settle on it, except for the sparkly detail on some of the more small and important parts of the work. She used very eye popping color with very recognizable representations inside. The art was best viewed at a medium distance but there were some fine details you needed to stay for a while to recognize such as the upside down American flag or the Russian flag behind the president.

These works of hers are about politics and issues that the media pins the left and right against each other on and makes us unable to have conversations with each other about it. This creates two sides and makes us both very defensive and communication difficult. What was on her mind was that she was tired of constantly hearing the media talk about all the crazy things going on in the government and that’s what made her realize that they were acting like a circus, doing silly things instead of being our example of reason. She wanted to explore ideas people are afraid to talk about, like political issues going on with our country.

I loved the exhibit, political cartoons have always been one of my favorite things in art. I could see from our talk what the artist was thinking and what her work meant to her and why she felt the need to make it the way she did as well as explain it the way she did. I do disagree with some things that she said having to do with the current president but I did 100% agree with the circus she drew over the White House. That was hilarious and great to see someone who also thought they were all acting crazy over there right now. It was nice to talk and relate to someone who I know ultimately wants the same thing for the country as me, yet we disagree on certain things that are touchy subjects, but I was still able to enjoy the work and understand her side to it all. And that is what her work is all about, even if you have a different opinion, this is her opinion and she wants to have a conversation with you about the political issues that the country is deal with because most people don’t want to talk about anything going on in our government today even though it is very important and some crazy circus-like things are going on right now. I really enjoyed her work and the two things we came together the most on during our great conversation was that the White House is acting like a circus right now, and that, as her caption on that piece reads, it IS still our circus. Even though they are out of line, we shouldn’t abandon, we should realize where we are going wrong and correct. The gallery walk around was great and I enjoyed it a lot, I hope to see more political work next time I go.