10 Surreal Paintings Of Isolated Places And Derelict Buildings By Lee Madgwick
Over the past 20 years, Lee Madgwick has built a career as an artist, having studied graphic design while keeping drawing as a serious hobby. That hobby eventually evolved into painting, and before long, his distinctive style began to emerge.
Madgwick’s paintings tap into a deep sense of nostalgia, as if we’re looking at the last traces of a world that no longer exists. His moody, atmospheric scenes often feature lonely buildings or empty landscapes that feel both familiar and eerily distant. They invite us to imagine what these places were like at their peak, full of people, movement, and noise, before everything went quiet.
Talking about why he gravitates toward such desolate subjects, Madgwick explained: “I’ve always been drawn to abandoned and isolated places, and I enjoy the mystery that surrounds them. Buildings that are overlooked in our towns and cities stand out to me, and so giving them a new setting and brooding skies helps to create a certain mood. Artists like Caspar David Friedrich, Jacob van Ruisdael, Hopper and Wyeth have inspired me over the years.”
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#1 “Drift”
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#2 “Embrace”
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In many of his works, it feels like you can almost piece together the story of some unseen disaster. The dystopian settings seem to rise right off the canvas, each sombre illustration hinting at lost lives, conversations, and laughter that now linger only as silent echoes.
Further elaborating on his creative process, Madgwick revealed, “I paint in water-mixable oils and acrylic and describe my work as ‘imagined realism.’ The skies are painted with gloved hands and fingertips, and after several weeks of drying time, I then focus on the detailed areas using acrylic paint. I like to add a touch of intrigue and leave it to the viewer to come up with their own interpretations and to question what they are seeing. Who inhabits these places? What lives do they lead? What has happened or what’s about to happen?”
It’s that blend of mystery, mood, and open-ended storytelling that makes Madgwick’s work so compelling. His paintings might look deserted, but they feel full of untold stories just waiting for us to imagine them.
#3 “Echoes”
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#4 “Badlands”
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#5 “Empire”
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#6 “Fracture”
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#7 “Evanescence”
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#8 “Boom!”
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#9 “Hope”
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#10 “The Enchantment”
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Got wisdom to pour?