Season Changes

Octavia Madden

In 2024 Octavia Madden graduated, then accepted an offer of a subsidised place on the Royal Drawing School’s intensive drawing term. She then returned to Devon to work on a collaborative project with two other Aberystwyth graduates, Toby Wills Hart and Millicent Evans which culminated in curating and exhibiting work in ‘Between Forests’ at the Garage Gallery, London. Octavia then participated in a group show with other Royal Drawing School students in ‘This is Earthly Stuff’ at the Amp Gallery, London, as well as taking part in Dulwich Open Studios and Devon Open Studios. Octavia was awarded the Emerging Artist Bursary and the Joanna Radford Prize, plus had her Open Studio featured in Devon Life, Evolver Magazine and a number of local news outlets. In 2025, she has been invited to exhibit at Garage Gallery, invited to submit works for the Atkinson Gallery and has also been selected for the Hafod residency.

Fascinated by the nightscapes of Aberystwyth, New Blood Art Emerging Art Prize nominee Octavia Madden playfully renders a riot of colour, texture and movement in these expressive canvases. Contrasting the glow of streetlights, car headlights, shop signs and illuminated windows with the darker, bigger and older swellings of sea, sky and mountains, Octavia's paintings are at once joyful and profound. Ranging from recognisably figurative renderings of nighttime cityscapes to jumbled, exuberant abstract compositions, Octavia is intimately acquainted with her subject matter in all its guises. Using oil paint and oil pastels, the luminous glow of 'Language of Aberystwyth' is seared by the confident pale yellow shapes in the sky above, which could be shooting stars or passing aeroplanes. Below, orange lights explode like bursts of flame - what is the 'language' being spoken here? - while dark blue abstract mark making conjures the bones of buildings. In the shifting streams of colour in 'Colour of the Harbour', we feel as though we are observing a time-lapse in the blur of motion and tone, dark mountains rendered just visible against the lighter sky above. 

Julian Ruddock, Fine Art (Painting) Lecturer, University of Aberystwyth:

'Octavia's dream-like, nocturne paintings employ a diverse colour palette, influenced by experience of the night and musical references. The works emerge from specific places but are reimagined through her playful exploration of both natural and artificial light, of pattern and motif.'