I had a conversation recently with a colleague about the aesthetic of loneliness. How does it look? Who paints it best? I brought up Maud Madsen, not that I find her work to be about a sadness or absence, but that I loved the ways in which she paints a character that is intent and busy with being by themself. That her work showcased a kind of loneliness that comes with action, with articulated reason, with passion. I don’t find her character to be lonely, but allowing the viewer to see inside someone’s own time, own space.
