Peter Madden is an Auckland-based collage artist who creates heavily detailed, surreal microcosms that seem to leap out of their two-dimensional frameworks. Ransacking old issues of National Geographic for his source material, Madden transplants them from their original context into his own fantastical world. Madden’s overwhelming collages burst at the seams with a proliferation of imagery, crammed with symbols of life and death, renewal and decay. His practice has expanded to encompass three-dimensional papercuts and sculptural works reminiscent of his spirited, abundant collages.

His recent solo exhibitions include The Distance Dust Travels (Robert Heald Galllery, Wellington NZ 2012) and You Have Changed Me Already (Ivan Anthony, Auckland NZ 2012). Recent group exhibitions include Paper-jams (Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland NZ 2012) and Animal Spirits (Sugarcube, Stockholm Sweden 2011). In 2013, the Partaka Museum, New Zealand will hold a 10-year survey show on Madden’s practice. A monograph of his works was published by the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane in 2011.

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