March 14, 2022

Madalena Corrêa Mendes

Madalena Corrêa Mendes is an artist born in Portugal in 1995 and based in Venice and Lisbon. Her multidisciplinary artistry is focused on expanding the realm of painting through textile, photography, installation and performance work.

[própria] acção V, 2015, acrylic on paper, 70 x 100 cm

With a background in Fine Arts at the University and Lisbon and after attending a Post-Grad in Art Market and Collecting in Lisbon, she moved to Venice to work for Venice Biennale and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Ultimately, she fell in love with the city where she currently resides and practices her art.

ligações (links), corton thread on canvas, 40 X 40 X 8 cm, 2017

Madalena's work has been included in exhibitions and publications both in Portugal and Italy and is held in several private collections in both countries. Some of them include an exhibition at the Garance & Marion Art Gallery (Venice, 2021), A.Topos Gallery (Venice, 2020), Gallergry (Venice, 2019) and Tarimba Collective (2019).

She's also a recurring member of the exhibition 12x12 (Lisbon, 2015-2021) and the exhibition cycle of ARTLAB mitos e rituais da tapeçaria contemporânea (Viana do Castelo, Portalegre, Guimarães, 2017).

Corações compostos (Hearts in composition), mixed media, variable dimensions, 2021

Madalena's mission for 2022 is to (re)build the world. While describing her artistic process, she said:

"As an artist, I believe that (my) Art is (my) a form of communication, therefore I use whatever means serves this purpose. For this reason I explore with a lot of mediums, focusing on sewing and embroidering on canvas. I have a multidisciplinary practice consolidated on expanding the realm of painting through textile, photography, installation and performance work. I am always trying to refine my language and to enrich it through study and research."

Hold your hands and dance in circles: may I have this dance?, Cotton thread and acrylic on linen, 20 x 20 cm, 2021

With her art, Madalena aims to connect people together, and the "sewing" in her works functions as an effective metaphor for her intention.

"I (want to) connect, link, join, tie, unite: people and places. I (want to) create boundless and never-ending patchworks of people, of fabric, of places. I (want to) reveal the world’s inside-out lines: stitched, sutured, nailed, black lines".

linha(s) vermelha(s) (red line(s)), cotton thread and acrylic on fabric and canvas, 60 X 60 X 3 cm, 2018

untitled, from the series: that's how the magic gets in, cotton thread on canvas, 18 x 25 cm, 2017

"I am constantly seeking and attempting to comprehend the (not so) simple task of being a puzzle piece belonging to a big ensemble that is humanity. The questions in the center of my research are: what is being? What is being with others? I aim for the cotton and wool threads of my canvas to become invisible and to stretch out of the frame: I want them to bring people together in a world where individuality triumphs".

Madalena is determined to share her view on the role of Art and artists. She believes that Artists and Art play the role of "rebuilders of a better world". Her work acts as an explicit invitation for the public to (inter)act and respond to what they’re receiving from it.

"Art puts into action the giving and receiving cycle of life: that’s what Art should do".

Visit Madalena's work here: http://madalenacorreamendes.com
Follow the artist on Instagram @madalenacmendes