Squeeze Painting

Born in New York City, Beatrice M. Mady received a M.F.A. in painting from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York and a B.F.A. from the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. Her works are on view in museums such as the Dayton Art Institute, Museum of Friends and Drew University Museum, and in corporate collections; Pfizer, Ortho Dermatological, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Johnson and Johnson, Sydney and Francis Lewis Foundation, Arenol Chemical Corporation, and in private collections. She has had numerous one person and group exhibitions. She was a recipient of a Ford Foundation Grant, a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant and three Kenny Grants. Ms. Mady is a Professor and the Graphic Arts Coordinator at Saint Peters University in Jersey City, NJ. I work in series as it allows me to focus on a concentrated assemblage of similar ideas and/or restrictions. Each series has a life of its own. I don't necessarily consciously set out to start or end a series; it just happens. Ideas are sparked from things I see on my travels or events in my life. I might be made aware of new patterns, colors and light or I try to express visually ideas for which I have no words. In the studio, these notions present themselves in ways that I do not always expect. My first love is painting, but I have always been fascinated with the technical aspect of art and find making my images on the computer very rewarding. Working on the computer allows for spontaneity and experimentation not possible with oil paint. My digital prints are created entirely in Adobe Illustrator and printed on a large format Epson printer on Hahnemhle paper. Each series of images is limited to small editions. The essence or core of my paintings and prints evolve from a dialogue between the drawn form and color. This conversation continues between the spontaneous gesture and the calculated mark, the morphic and the geometric shapes, finally coalescing into a complex internal space. The work is like our universe, expanding and contracting, altering its form, yet remaining true to its original intent. The layering of color, both opaque and transparent, can be likened to the layers of consciousness or the veils of reality. There is a spiritual state in which dualistic elements, such as vertical-horizontal, dark-light, warm-cool and positive-negative can play out their parts.