VOLUMES — MADISON

2/27/22

Interview by David Sharp (VOL.1 PRINT)

Brooklyn, New York

Madison Ross sits on a comfortable looking grey couch in the living room of her Bedstuy apartment. Above her hangs a portrait she painted of Nina Simone, and the room is filled with her art pieces. It’s a comfortable Sunday morning in February and the window next to her is open, Brooklyn can be heard passing by outside.

Sharp: Who are you and how is life right now?

Madison: My name is Madison Ross and I’m a painter. I specialize in portraits, in the mediums of either acrylic or oil, but most of the time right now I’m leaning towards oil. Right now how my life is doing? I’m constantly in a state of learning, learning as I go.

‘Hey!’ she says to one of her cats who just jumped up on the coffee table, investigating what is going on

Madison: ..but also in the medium of being drained. Learning stuff as I go but just.. with a sigh.

Sharp: What’s your relationship like with Brooklyn?

Madison: I love the city. I’m originally from San Diego, California, but what I like about the city is the independence around it, which I feel like a lot of people can relate to. I like that I can literally do anything here. If there’s a will there’s a way to get stuff done, which I love. And also particularly with Brooklyn there’s a type of community about it. Like I found you [VOL.1 PRINT] here, that was sweet. You can just make do and people with similar goals can make do and so I love that sense of energy around particularly Brooklyn. To be an artist here and to be surrounded by other artists I definitely feel like it goes to the philosophy of personalism: you are an extension of your community or community is an extension of yourself.

Sharp: Some artists express, some artists release, some want to teach, others want acclaim. What purpose does your art serve for you?

Madison: My art for me is an expression of the people I’m with. Besides these two (points to the Nina Simone portrait and another piece next to her) the other portraits that I’m currently doing are people who I know. It goes to the meaning of you are an extension of your community and you are who you are with. I really am just expressing the cool people in my life, the cool black women in my life, whether it be friends or family. Really showing the beauty in that. Being thankful for the things that I have currently even though there’s so many things that are going down, but just being able to take in the moment and just be thankful that you have these moments to cherish at that time.

I feel like I got back into the craft of painting during the pandemic. For everyone a lot of things changed, a lot of things went to shit, still is going to shit. I lost my job in May, but that got picked up again in July/August. So it’s a huge thing of change for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. And one of the things was me re-picking up painting because this was a thing of expression. There’s a particular piece that is literally of a woman breathing out, looking up and just like.. Basically it’s me saying: ‘what the fuuck’. ‘Ugh’. ‘I hate it here’. Those were the kind of expressions at least what I was doing in 2020.

Sharp: Describe your process for me

(On getting reference photos)

Madison: So my process mainly consists of girl hangs with whomever. With Chelsea and Soukayna (subjects of her recent pieces) this was like: ‘hey you wanna go out for lunch and then I take your photo?’. And we’d go to say somewhere in Dumbo or Greenpoint, where something has excess light. I want to play with light hitting their skin. I mainly use this simple point and shoot camera, film (grabs a tan Vivitar point and shoot off the coffee table) and just go to town. We have fun with it. We have conversations while we’re doing it and really I’m just trying to get them in their most natural element, but also feeling themselves. It’s a fun day and most of the time of those conversations we have, it’s all bottled up into that piece.

(On painting)

I definitely think it works in clusters. Sometimes I’ll have a work high where I have a vibe that I’m very much crazy about, working on a certain section of a piece. I never want to leave an artwork or take a break from an artwork unless it’s at a good “finishing” point where I can take a break. If I mess up someone’s face I’m not going to leave it messed up. I need to make sure that it’s cleaned up or at least a good breaking point I can leave it at before taking a break from it. If I leave something that I feel like is messed up or not in a right direction, or if I feel like eventually when I return back to it I’ll have to do more correcting, that feels.. kinda shitty. I know there was a time where I had someone’s eyes looking not correct, like one eye looking much bigger than the other and I just left it like that, like a little shit. And I remember walking by and I’m just like: ‘I don’t want to work on this. It doesn’t look like the person.’ So I kinda want to make sure that I lead by example for my future selves. To make sure that I leave everything pristine.

Sharp: Any thoughts on commissions?

Madison: I need to learn to handle myself more with grace because I have heavy imposter syndrome. In the beginning I was charging very laughable rates. I imagine with anyone starting something new, especially commodifying it, they underestimate the value of work they produce and so I was charging very small rates. I remember my first commission piece, when I charged them they were like: ‘thats it?’.

Sharp: Will you say the number? For somebody else who is in that spot

Madison: Let’s just say that in addition to the invoice they paid, they gave me a huge tip and the quote in the email saying: ‘Increase your rates.’

So how I do my commission rates now, I break it down between variable rates vs. fixed rates. My variable fees consist of my supplies. The canvas, the paints, the easel. I’m charging the easel because it’s like someone renting out to use the easel. In terms of my fixed fees, this consists of the commission fee and the hourly time.

Count everything. Get the receipts for everything. So you know that all the work you put into it actually has a number to it. It’s not just a feeling. Or if you are wondering how to justify the value, look at the receipts. That was actually one of my first commission pieces so I was thinking, no I want to make sure that I’m nice. Since I’m beginner, I was still thinking of myself as a beginner, I don’t want to charge these high rates because they’ll be thinking like: ‘yo you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I’m now in a stage of: ‘yea I do know what I’m talking about and I do know that shit’s expensive.’

Sharp: How has your work changed over the years?

Madison: There’s definitely more people that look like me in the paintings I do. I was very much the token in schools so most of the time my subject work would be very.. not people who look like me. So actually seeing big versions of black women on here that’s like: ‘oohh.. thats’s right.” That kind of energy.. around it. I feel like my past self who didn’t paint these things would be like: ‘wow, this is an option? I never would have known.’ Which is one of the things [reasons] I am very happy that I came to New York. For Brooklyn in particular, it’s really nice to be around people who look like you because it builds a sense of community. Being the only chip in the cookie does not make a good cookie. It really affects you mentally. It really limits your options.. possibilities. So I would say that’s good growth, self love has increased. My realism has increased, but highly I would say that the self love has increased in terms of my paintings. You can see it from here.