Joan Linder is on the cover of the Entertainment section of Newsday

I went downstairs this morning, and sitting on the kitchen table was the Newsday Entainment section with my name written on it with arrows pointing to a story about the artist Joan Linder (she is on the cover). I have written twice about Linder's work on this blog, frankly, because I really like her drawings.

Joan has a solo show up at Dowling University, at the Oakdale campus. Oakdale is on the southern coast of Long Island, about 45 minutes from NYC. I will see the show sometime this week, and afterwards I will write about it on Ink Stained Hands.

I have been thinking about what makes a drawing interesting to me, and it has a lot to do with if the drawing can channel my imagination into an enjoyable, quiet mindset, where it does not matter if I am thinking in language or not. Joan Linder makes drawings that put me in that particular mental space.

Newsday has a video of the artist in her studio.

Here is the main article.

warning:

The video puts a political spin on the work that is there, but is not the emphasis. When I saw the work it came across more as a personal expression of careful perception, created by someone who enjoys subverting the viewers experience by including themes and rendered objects that are funny, surprising, politically conscious, and seductive.

Joan Linder, Rabbit Series

I am excited to present to you three of Joan Linder's "Rabbit Series" (with her permission) created from 2004 to present. These are my favorite drawings I have seen this year, they are inventive, generous, scandalous, formally inventive, and possess some quality that mesmerizes me. I went to see the show twice while it was up at Mixed Greens in Chelsea last month, and the drawings are small (8 x 8"), intimate, and affordable. You can see more of them on the Mixed Greens gallery website.

"Photo Shoot," ink on paper, 8 x 8"

"Shower," ink on paper, 8 x 8"

"Photo Shoot with Dead Chicken," ink on paper, 8 x 8"


Thanks Joan!

NYC on wednesday (Joan Linder!), My Drawing, McSweeneys

I saw a really good show of drawings at Mixed Greens gallery , they are selling a catalog of the show for $10. The artist, Joan Linder , made two different groups of drawings, one was something along the lines of the sexual confessions of an humanish(oid) female bunny rabbit, and the other was a (not immediately) funky, convincingly realistic rendering of a wall(s) behind a bar with all the liquor, political stickers, street signs, and celebrity ephemera on it. Very, very good drawing. The drawings were mostly ink and pen from what I could tell.


I had never been in Mixed Greens gallery before, and I was surprised and pleased to find a new artist to enter into the group of artists I like. Also the staff at the gallery was friendly.


I walked over to Printed Matter after I went to Mixed Greens. Printed Matter is the mecca in the US for artist books. It is very interesting and engaging to walk into this store, because there is a lively hand formed quality to the place: tables covered in books with shelves on the sides of the tables filled with books, bookshelves with books piled into them, cabinets with glass display cases filled with books, counters covered in books. If someone could illustrate my brain when I die I hope it metaphorically looks like the inside of printed matter.

Here is a photo of the drawing I am working on now. Laur says it the best face I have drawn in a while, the photos at a bit of an angle because (I am lazy) I ran out of room to hang and shoot it.


The 4 McSweeneys books came, I can not recommend them more strongly. I actually feel bad having gotten them so cheaply, (I just checked and they have raised the price 5 dollars, so you may want to act quickly).

The copyright notice on book 13 was an extraordinarily moving letter detailing a meeting between the books editors and the books namesake in Ireland, Timothy McSweeney. A book where the copyright notice is so well written and heartfelt it made my eyes sting has a lot of potential (and I think the books will continue to provide unorthodox, thoughtful, and interesting entertainment and reading) (it could have been written by Rudyard Kipling) (and I was a frickin soldier), if you need any further proof that there are more people out there like you (me). Then just spend the 20 bucks, scratch that, they raised it to 25.

Ok, I am going to work on my drawing. You re a better man than I am Gunga Din.