Madeline Beasley studied art in London specializing in graphic design.
She moved to New Zealand in 1968 and for many years worked as a graphic designer for television. This included illustrating court cases for the news.
In 1990 she had her first one person show and has exhibited regularly since then, concentrating on the pursuit of her own artistic language.
Her paintings deal essentially with the representation of the secular guardian angel. Madeline is inspired by the idea of people having their own spiritual icon, and entity that watches over their well being.
Her emblematic imagery is based on Medieval and Byzantine Art, such as religious paintings and artifacts.
Cut out of hard board, the figure of the angel is painted in colourful oils with confident brush work.
Each angel possesses a strangely naive appearance that harks back to the pre Renaissance art which inspires her. The cut out shapes within the paintings overlap and leak onto one another to create an organic quality.
Symbolism pervades in all the works. Potato peelers, irons, books, flowers, shells and birds all represent many facets in the world of women and mothers, scholars, nurturers, lovers ect...Although her paintings are quintessentially female the figures remain strangely androgynous. The artist wishes to break the traditional portrayal of women as sexual objects.
Angels and goddesses draw the spectator into magical landscapes of peace and harmony. Although not religious works, Madeline incorporates holy icons into the lives of mortals, perhaps as a sign that we are not alone in this world.
The dominant role of the patriarchal male is displaced in favor of a beautiful yet powerful female image, empowering and benign, an angel and goddess which is ionized and elevated to a new artistic level once reserved for the imagery of gods. However these inner meanings are secondary to the simple beauty and decorative qualities of the works themselves.