Under the Skin
Two person Exhibition by Madeline Cochran and Zach Leonard.
Madeline Cochran (b. 1994, La Crosse, WI) lives and works in Minneapolis, MN. Madeline received her BA from College of Saint Benedict (St. Joseph, MN) in 2017 and MFA from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (Dundee, Scotland) in 2018. She is a multidisciplinary artist drawing inspiration from the enigmatic landscape and atmosphere of the Midwest. Her practice investigates the subconscious through minimalism, craft traditions, and folkloric symbols embedded within the region. She uncovers the unique life force found in both organic/regionally sourced and synthetic/industrial materials. She sees her work as an offering to the unseen networks that surround us.
Zach Leonard (b. 1991, Waterloo, IA) lives and works in Saint Paul, MN. Zach received his BFA from the University of Northern Iowa in 2015 and his MFA from Colorado State University in 2021. Working with broken, discarded, and unconventional materials, Leonard uses the physical properties and histories of these objects as analogues for the human body. Through processes of accumulation, fragmentation, and transformation, his work considers how care, memory, and meaning endure within what has been overlooked, forgotten, or cast aside.
"My studio practice investigates the emotional and physical resonance of broken or discarded materials encountered in everyday life and their relationship to the human body. My work emerges from a sustained attentiveness to damage, repair, and the quiet histories embedded within ordinary objects. This awareness is rooted in my recovery from a school bus accident during my teenage years, when I became acutely attuned to—and identified with—damaged or unusable things.
Like the body, objects bear visible traces of trauma, wear, and repair. Through sculpture and drawing, I transform these materials into intimate, awkward, and uncanny forms that evoke fragmented or vulnerable bodies. Working across mediums, I incorporate broken furniture, unconventional paints, and discarded objects, treating them as both surrogates for bodily fragments and as material surfaces that emphasize texture, instability, and abstraction.
Rather than restoring these materials to a previous state, I foreground their imperfections, allowing fracture and repair to remain visible. Through processes of accumulation, alteration, and transformation, my work examines how material histories can speak to broader experiences of fragility, resilience, and embodiment, inviting viewers to reconsider the overlooked potential of what has been damaged or cast aside."