Maddy Young talks about Outré Gallery opening "From Dust" September 05 2016
Maddy is an illustrator hailing from Brisbane, now living and creating in Melbourne.
Her fine lined illustrations combine a love for the natural world "I am fascinated with complex flowers and plant life", as well as a gratitude for the mundane, "I like to document things like the fence at the front of my house, weeds growing on my walk to the corner store or the moon on a cloudless night". These explorations of what is going on around her and inside her mind are created with minimal use of colour, "I tend to shy away from colour generally in my life." Maddy’s process is one of precision, "often redrawing a piece 4 or 5 times until (she) is happy with it", the final product is often mounted under glass or collaged with another image in her sketch book. ‘From Dust’ embodies pieces of work which "capture small moments in time and highlight the soft and decorative harmony between the natural and manmade".
Could you speak about the narrative behind the work in your upcoming show 'From Dust' at Outre gallery?
With these works I have tried to capture brief still moments in time, and highlight the soft and decorative harmony between the natural and manmade, placing the audience as the ever watching spectator. I wanted these works to be observational (as all life is) and to focus on transient things that are sometimes over looked - I hope to convey feelings of stillness and solitude
What kind of subject matter do you like to draw?
I am fascinated with complex flowers and plant life, and documenting small parts of the world around me (things like the fence at the front of my house, weeds growing on my walk to the corner store or the moon on a cloudless night)
You mostly draw with black pen on white - what attracts you to this aesthetic as opposed to colour based designs?
Black and white has always seemed cleaner and more simple to me - when I started drawing more seriously I decided to focus on technique and texture over colour theory (colour never really made much sense to me) I tend to shy away from colour generally in my life.
Opening Night Friday September 9th at 6pm.
Drinks supplied by Feral Brewing Company.
You can sign up for a special preview of the show here http://
Join the Facebook event here
Words & Photography: Nicola Mitchell
Full interview here via Pilerats: http://pilerats.com/visual/art-design/framed-interview-a-chat-with-illustrator-maddy-young/