Artist Statement
Written By Sooltan Madsen
My series of paintings, Interlude, focuses on my found family, built in Savannah, GA. The culture of queerness that drew us together, and provided us with comfort and community. This work is about celebrating my community and queer family, and acts as a thank you for all those years of love and support. It is a love letter to them. The work is primarily narrative portraits, which I think speaks to the lack of stories purely of queer joy, told not from a place of tragedy or hardship. As I found myself leaving Savannah and moving to the next chapter in my life, I thought often of the memories that had been made, and the photos from all of our adventures together. The Work tells the story of our connections, our identities, and of moments and feelings that are widespread in the queer community, and yet that popular media often lacks.
My work is at its core about queer joy & the documentation of queer identity & experiences, past, present, and future. I find myself with a deepseated desire to not only share queer joy, but to preserve it through my work. We have countless examples of the status quo being documented in art and popular media. Yet when we think about the documentation of queer identity or joy, by queer artists we often find ourselves looking more strictly at the last century and seeing those stories told “in spite of”, unless we are willing to consider the recontextualization of work for the parallels it draws to queer identity. We have, of course, always been here, but that doesn’t mean our stories of joy or work are what is found in textbooks or historical museums. Too often are our stories only told from a place of tragedy or trauma. To quote a common joke “History will say they were friends” which of course tell the other commonality of queer history - erasure. When I consider what I want to be known for as an artist, it is a dedication to Queer joy and identity.
I painted from reference images that either were taken by myself or by peers. They are real moments in time - all actions, smiles, figures, and objects were accurate to a specific fleeting moment. These paintings serve as time capsules as well as pieces of art, capturing moments that could very well have been forgotten.
For this body of work I used my own found family and film photos from our albums to create the pieces that encompass Interlude, however the work is not just for us. These experiences and the emotions of the work are universal. From seeking something more, to questioning our faith - or the identity we were told was our, to experiencing love, and play. Queer experiences can be felt in art just as much as the cis & heteronormative experiences. Something for those who will read this statement to cosider, how many of queer stories have you seen told about joy? Not “despite” but just stories of joy.
Artist Biography
Sooltan Madsen (b. Sun Valley, Idaho) received a B.F.A. in painting from The Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA in 2022. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions across the United States including galleries in Savannah, Chicago, Laguna Beach, Long Island, and San Diego, as well as internationally in Galway, Ireland. Madsen makes colorful portraits surrounding LGBT and western identity. Madsen has received several awards including an honorable mention award from the Art League of Long Island, and the grand prize artist grant from Teravarna Gallery, Los Angeles. Her most recent exhibition was a group show with Aplomb Gallery in Dover, NH. She spent January of 2024 at Dorland Artist Colony for an artist residency. She currently lives and works in Minneapolis, MN.
Sooltan Madsen
Artist, American Lesbian
Curatorial Statement
Written by Kat Claybaugh, Kylee Christiansen, and Montana Vince
Queer joy swirls its drink, writes its number on the napkin, and laughs. Weightless.
Queer joy is simple when allowed to exist uninterrupted. It’s where you find your chosen family—your friends, your lovers. This is where you find your moments, dear. Simple, if you can imagine!
In Interlude, Sooltan Madsen invites us into the intimate and heartfelt moments where she finds queer joy, preserving them in service to both modern and historical queer communities. At the center of the exhibition is Symphony, an interconnected web of names on German etching paper. This web reflects the intricate connections within her own queer community, celebrating the joy that shapes it.
The names in Symphony extend to the surrounding paintings, where Madsen’s signature style— marked by whimsical absurdity— evokes a sense of nostalgia. Her work captures the essence of warm summer nights with friends, the thrill of a kiss at a party, and the tenderness of a new relationship. Madsen welcomes the audience to either join the piece or join the party — but always revel in the camp and push the boundaries of absurdity within the ordinary. Sooltan’s bold use of color, playful yet mundane subject matter, and comedic titles weave together a loving portrait of a community dedicated to the exploration of their queerness and radical joy.
This body of work serves as a sincere objection to the idea that queer joy and trauma are mutually exclusive. Through its honest exploration of the authenticity, intimacy, humor, and community at the center of queer joy, Interlude encourages the audience to reflect on the moments, big or small, that we hold dear to ourselves, inspiring us to seek and put down roots in the community that fostered them.
What does queer joy mean to you?