There are so many reasons why you should be loving the work of Brooklyn-based Madeline Donahue. The soon-to-be mother of two (she also illustrates the print version of Charlotte Jansen’s regular Post-Partum Document in Elephant) tackles motherhood in all its imperfect and painful glory, nipple-tugging, hair-pulling and all. There aren’t many contemporary artists openly making work about their experiences with motherhood—and who can blame them when there’s such a tendency to pigeonhole and dismiss work on this subject—but Donahue makes it fun without beautifying the whole gig. Every parent will identify with the scenes she recreates: there’s never a moment of calm for the mother figures she portrays, but there’s also a lot of love and playfulness in her curving lines and colour. This fresh ceramic work, titled Cyclops (no doubt, we’ve all felt like this in the morning) appears as part of Madeline Donahue’s exhibition, Attachments, on view at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects until 6 October 2019.
