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Happy New Year! As we step into the middle of January and gear up for the 2024 session starting in February, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters, advocates, and members. Your unwavering support throughout the past year has been invaluable, and we eagerly anticipate your continued involvement in the upcoming session and General Election.
MCA’s annual New Year's card features a Minnesota artist who we spotlight as we wish our members a joyous and creative year ahead. This year, our chosen artist is Madison Rubenstein. Discover more about Madison in the details provided below.
Thank you for being a vital part of the arts community.
Warm regards,
Sarah Fossen
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I am a visual artist working in traditional media such as oil paint, graphite, pastels, watercolor, India ink, and acrylic. I paint how it feels to inhabit my body. I consider art-making a necessary tool of adaptability, which helps me survive in the world as a disabled person. The practice of conceptualizing and then creating something that was once not there supports the production of new neural connections. These new neural connections help me repair my relationship with my body, which has previously internalized to hate itself from the rest of the world. It also supports me in conceiving futures in which all people have not only everything they need to survive but also thrive.
My works depict contorted, distorted, abstracted, and repeated portrayals of bodies, often my own. The bodies are rendered fragmented, fractured, ghost-like, and unfinished, or are reduced to lumpy flesh-like blobs of paint. Themes relating to survival, bodily catastrophe, cautious optimism, and the tension between control and surrender play out in my work through the use of layered compositions of bodily masses, highly saturated color palettes, and exaggerated scale. The act of incorporating joy and pleasure into these images through the use of vibrant color and playful texture is a necessary act in being able to imagine a future in which disabled people have everything they need to flourish. I practice defying internalized narratives about disability by incorporating forms that resist perceiving injury, deformity, or illness as unfavorable but rather celebrate and beautify the attributes that society generally regards as monstrous.
BIO:
Madison Rubenstein (any pronouns) is a visual artist from Bloomington, MN. They work out of their art studio located at the California Building in Northeast Minneapolis. Rubenstein has exhibited their work in several galleries and public spaces throughout Minnesota, including Co-Exhibitions, Anderson Center, Gamut Gallery and Public Functionary. In 2013 Rubenstein earned their BFA in Drawing & Painting from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. They completed their first artist residency at Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, CO fall of 2019. Rubenstein has been serving on Elsewhere’s board of directors since 2020. They received the 2023 Arts Midwest Artists with Disabilities Grant which funded their first solo-exhibition “Too Much”. Rubenstein works in studio 207B in the California Building and is open for California Building’s open studio events. You can also book a private viewing of their studio by emailing mrubenstein.info@gmail.com.
Arts Action Week and Day at the Capitol March 4th - 8th
Exciting news! MCA is delighted to announce that Arts Action Week will take place from March 4th to 8th. Mark your calendars, and don't forget to join us for an in-person rally at the Capitol Rotunda on March 5th at 9 AM.
Stay tuned for more details on Arts Action Week and Day at the Capitol starting next week, including information on how to register for the day. Get ready for a week filled with arts advocacy!
STATE-WIDE TOUR UPDATE
In the past month, MCA has embarked on a journey across the state to connect directly with YOU! The turnout and enthusiasm from everyone have been incredible. As we wrap up our final stops this week in Duluth and Grand Marais, we look forward to sharing the outcomes of our tour with all of you. If you're curious about our journey or wish to join us in Duluth and Grand Marais, find more details here.