"There are a few different ideas behind this exhibition, but I suppose they all come back to one theme: Making magic out of the mundane.
One of the ideas I’ve been exploring in my work is the relationship between the man-made world and the natural environment — and what happens when nature starts interacting with the things we create. I love seeing how nature adapts to us.
I’ve physically seen birds making nests in abandoned shopping trolleys, and I’ve read stories about honey bees making hives inside plastic lawn ornaments and animal statues. There’s something really fascinating about these things that we make, use and eventually discard being taken over and repurposed by nature.
And that leads into another big part of my work — reusing things. Now, I just want to clarify that I’m not a hoarder… …but I am pretty terrible at throwing things away. I can’t throw out a nice gift bag because obviously I might need that gift bag one day. I keep wrapping paper. I keep old books. I keep interesting bits of paper. I keep bags, packaging and random objects that most normal people would probably put straight in the bin.
I love op shopping and finding something that somebody else has decided they don’t want anymore and thinking, “I could do something with that.”
My husband Sam is particularly thrilled by this habit. He is always deeply embarrassed when I suddenly yell: “STOP THE CAR! because I’ve spotted a piece of furniture on the side of the road that I am absolutely certain I can repurpose. Whether I actually can repurpose it is another question. But I have the vision. And I suppose the idea of giving things another life is really important to me. Whether it’s an old book, a paper bag, a piece of wrapping paper, a discarded old phone, or something that would otherwise be completely overlooked.
The other, slightly less environmentally noble idea behind this exhibition is that I’m a little bit greedy as an artist. We’re constantly told that artists should have a niche. Find your thing. Paint the same subject. Make your work recognisable. Build a brand. Become collectable.
And I completely understand why, but unfortunately… I have too many ideas. I want to paint everything. Vintage books, paper bags, bread tags, dry cleaning, plastic, flowers, objects, patterns. Basically anything that catches my eye.
So I had this problem of thinking: How on earth am I going to paint all these completely unrelated things and somehow pretend they’re a cohesive body of work? And then I realised something. I looked back over what I’d been painting for the last few years and noticed that, somehow, almost everything I was drawn to was either paper or plastic.
And I thought… That’s a theme.
Paper or Plastic is about sustainability, reuse, our relationship with the objects we surround ourselves with, and the way nature can interact with — and sometimes reclaim — the things we make.
But it’s also about looking at ordinary things differently. Taking something that we might normally walk past, throw away or barely notice, and giving it a bit of attention. Making something mundane feel beautiful. Or strange. Or funny. Or magical.
And I think that’s ultimately what I love most about painting. It gives me an excuse to look at everyday things and say: “Hang on… that old milk crate is actually really interesting, how can I make this beautiful."
So thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting my work. Thank you for humouring my obsession with paper and plastic. I hope when you look at milk crates and shopping trolleys you see something a little differently. And maybe — you’ll think twice before throwing out that really nice gift bag." – Madeleine Simson
