Madeleine Keesing is a celebrated artist renowned for her monumental, system-based chromatic abstractions. Her paintings are distinguished by a rhythmic, formal play where meticulously layered intervals of color reflect the artist’s meditative and intentional focus on the duration of mark-making. The resulting works “invite viewers into a sensory experience where process and effect intertwine, transcending purely formalist qualities to evoke a deeper, more complex engagement with color, form, and meaning.”1
Educated in the Formalist-Modernist tradition, Keesing began her artistic practice in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was influenced by the Feminist, Color Field, and Pattern & Design movements of the time. Over the years, her style evolved to include a labor-intensive process in which she carefully applies small droplets of paint in repetitive rows. “Initially focused on monochromatic tones, her work later embraced a variegated color palette. This attention to color and texture has led to comparisons with the post-minimalist vernacular, while also referencing the dialects of Fiber Arts and Aboriginal painting.”2
Her early works are characterized by thick, layered striations of paint that create a vibrant, tactile surface. “Later pieces, while still focused on the meticulous application of color, explore the tension between the flatness of earlier works and the illusionistic space that emerges from the careful placement of each droplet.”3 Throughout her career, “Keesing's temporal works have surpassed formal concerns, offering an experience that feels alive, dynamic, and in constant transformation.”4
Keesing’s technique has garnered admiration from art professionals, including Thomas Krens, former Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. He has described her paintings as having a “three-dimensional quality, not unlike a delicate tapestry,”5 and compared her technique to that of a medieval weaver or manuscript illuminator, noting the care and dedication with which she applies each droplet of paint.
Despite the controlled nature of her process, Keesing believes that repetition allows the paintings to take on “a life of their own,”6 with each piece reflecting the viewer's unique perspective. Her works are deeply influenced by her extensive travels across the globe, from Turkey, Japan, and Beijing, to France, India, Africa, and the United States. Encounters with Tibetan textiles, chinoiserie toiles, and Aboriginal artifacts, as well as the intense natural beauty of Vieques, Puerto Rico, have profoundly shaped her artistic vision. “These global experiences, along with her awareness of time’s fluidity—past, present, and future—infuse her work with a sense of collective consciousness and acceptance.”7
Born in Woodbury, New Jersey, in 1941. She attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn (1959-1963), followed by a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, and an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1974. Her work is included in prestigious museum and private collections and has been featured in exhibitions across the United States. Keesing is represented by Goya Contemporary Gallery in Baltimore. She currently lives and works in Washington, DC.
1., 2., 3., 4. Raehse, Amy, Interview 2019
5. Krens, Thomas
6. Keesing, Madeleine
7. Raehse, Amy