Joe McFadden has spent his entire life researching the lives of his Saints. As a child and a young man, he absorbed the details of ancient legends, religious proverbs and Shakespearian plays that formed a foundation for his truly original paintings. McFadden states, "These are not illustrations of saints, but paintings that use the essence of the Saint phenomenon, one that is personifying an idea and creating a starting point of expression."

When McFadden first began to paint his Saints, a whole world of ideas flowed onto the canvases. His style has a distinctly modern flair, but is rooted firmly in the Old Masters' palette and scale. McFadden describes himself as a "mannerly" modernist and has been linked to the New American Realism movement.

McFadden uses the Saints in the same way that James Joyce used mythology in Ulysses, elevating the mundane to the level of the sublime. Each Saint has been painted to tell a story. Through the painting and the tale, one is given an opportunity to explore Joe's original inspiration and share a moment in his world. Through his paintings, McFadden says that he is able to share his emotions in the infinite variety of expression on the human face.

Joe has developed a distinctive stylized approach to painting each figure. The characteristics that define each piece are uneven eyes, a pencil-sized neck, a large white collar, and a frontal position with no hands showing.

The Saints have serious, penetrating expressions. Their eyes are meticulously rendered and are the focal point of each painting. He intentionally distorts the figures, placing them in a formal, static Byzantine posture. You will also notice that each Saint has a horizontally placed disk as a collar (symbolically representing the tradtional priest collar) that acts as a barrier between the heart and the mind. This emotional strangulation is reinforced by the neck's thinness. The lack of arms prevents the Saints from doing anything but observing the world around them.

Joe's work is about the balance of life and each of these visual elements is key to describing a Saint's situation. Joe uses these devices as a visual reminder of the human struggle between the head and the heart, or logic and emotion. The Saints share this common dilemma with the rest of the world, but have either been restrained by their own goodness or have simply never dared to break loose from their responsibilities.

Rather than fostering a gloomy mood or alienating viewers, the Saints manage to evoke a sense of personality and a wry look at life's frustrations. They become part of the family, incorporating themselves into the daily rhythm of a home or office and elicit a smile at even the most distracted moment. They have a quiet strength, tremendous patience, and are always waiting for the opportunity to remind each collector that they are supporting them through the trials of life.

The art of Joe McFadden is as diverse as it is quixotic, and it defies a single interpretation.The cohesion of Joe's work is found in his persistent search for the relevance of painting in post-modern America. This search is based on the premise that neither subject matter nor technique determines an artist's place as much as the honesty of the work itself.

The Saints are a series of paintings that synthesize Joe McFadden's philosophy, mythical archetypes, and popular American icons. McFadden puts otherworldly faces on ideas, drawing from humanity's collective myths and symbols. His Saints expose our cultural frailty and the impossibility of achieving perfection even after thousands of years of faith and scientific exploration.

Every painting, regardless of subject, is a self-portrait. When a painter becomes too embroiled in an "ism", the work becomes stale and formulaic. It is this approach that allows McFadden to reference art history and tradition while maintaining a unique contemporary vision.