Graduating with an MFA in painting from the University of North Carolina, Madeleine Keesing creates tactile paintings that are a blending of the patterns and decoration movement and a variation of color field painting. Characteristic of her paintings is the subtle combination of layered colors used in the various stages of painting. Each work has one or several colors neatly divided into grids or rows. Keesing uses an exaggerated stippling technique to add an additional color applied in uniformly lined rows, building up the canvas surface. This creates a textural pattern of connected paint beads, evoking the impression of a textile work. Her most recent works have a flat surface yet still manage to give the illusion of texture.
Keesing’s work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and is in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and in the personal collection of Thomas Krens, the former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. In describing her techniques, Krens states, “The physical quality of these regularly disposed drops has an overall three-dimensional quality, not unlike a delicate tapestry. Each droplet could be compared to the perfect knot of an ancient rug. Ms. Keesing applies her paint with the dedication and care of both a medieval weaver and a manuscript illuminator.”