Working across multiple disciplines, Ray Madrigal (they/them) references nonhuman objects as vessels for human identity. They study moments of failure: injured hands, burnt toast, dead fish, lackluster awards, etc.
Madrigal believes that objects gain their value by "working", and that it is much the same with people. They hope that if they can sympathize with objects that "don't work", they can encourage tolerance for said objects, and extend this tolerance towards people that "don't work" by late capitalism's impossible standards.
Formally, Madrigal is enamored with ambitious attempts at illusion – attempts that fail when translated through human limits onto imperfect surfaces. They make in a near-constant state of frustration at their human rendering, striving for a perfection that they can only approximate. What is quick and precise for a camera is slow and clumsy for the artist. Pushing through frustration, however, can be a declaration of love.
Madrigal has a queer soft spot for things that are trying their hardest (and often failing) to look like something that they are not.