A selection of recent work by artist Madeline Ludwig-Leone. Born in Newport, Rhode Island and currently based in Los Angeles, Ludwig-Leone received her BA from Yale in 2015 and MFA from ArtCenter College of Design in 2024. She will be attending Millay Arts in August 2026 and Vermont Studio Center in June 2027. Ludwig-Leone’s paintings investigate the complicated relationships between humans and the natural world, specifically how systems of representation present a view that is mediated by cultural bias. Here simplified and flattened spaces serve as a counterpoint to the lush or sublime scenes so often seen in Western landscape painting. When fragments of nature do appear they are seen through windows or in reflections and shadows.

“Shadows are prominent in many of the works, implying a solid form that is often unseen or out of view but asserting themselves as flat, graphic shapes. These silhouettes are also transient and ephemeral—a moment captured before the light changes. Although the scenes contain a conspicuous lack of living things, the quality of light and shadow allows them to assert themselves as a part of the ongoing natural cycle of time.”