Interview with Linda Christensen
Neoteric Art: Do you feel you are part of the Third Generation of Bay Area Figurative Painters?
Linda Christensen: I don’t really feel like I am a part of a third generation but people have told me that I am. I think it’s hard to be objective about something like that but I certainly feel honored if this is true!
I have been inspired greatly by Diebenkorn, Park and the others. The books I have on them are splashed and spotted with paint and dust from their use over the years. I rarely reference them anymore but they were a great teaching tool. I copied them, traced them and imitated their style and in hindsight I see that it was all a process to get to who I am now.
NA: Mostly all of the figures you depict are female. Please elaborate.
LC: The figure in my work is me and it has taken years of exploration to finally realize this. I know how my body feels in all the positions of my figures: standing with a weighted foot, slumped in a chair lost in thought and on and on. I started with small figures depicted in a suggested setting or landscape and from there the figures showed up in groups of two and then finally in recent years, the single figure.
I am interested in the feelings that the figure can convey using the body as it’s translator. The body can express so much and being an avid people watcher I do my research wherever I go (to the annoyance of my husband). The figure carries me honestly from brush stroke to brush stroke.
NA: Discuss your work/thought processes when starting a new painting.
LC: I have the studio rituals that take me closer to the actual act of painting. I find that I have to be gentle and slip into it. A black and white movie on my television for starters to soothe and comfort and to see the grey tones and values in my peripheral vision.
I scrape down my palette and open my cans of paint for scooping. I start applying the paint in a random way but usually involving some type of grid and loose shapes. Nothing is planned out. I let it take me prisoner. I know for sure it will include a figure at some point.
Sometimes I am in a hurry and impatient with the process but my best work is when I have given in. I get to a point where I feel like the paint is coming out of my fingertips.
NA: You are represented by J Cacciola Gallery in New York City and Sue Greenwood Fine Art in Laguna Beach, CA. How were your most recent solo shows at each gallery and how did you become associated with these two galleries?
LC: I have been with Sue Greenwood for 5 years and before Sue Greenwood Fine Art came to be, I was in a gallery where Sue Greenwood was the director, so I have know her a long time and have built a true partnership. One of my fellow artists in the gallery was showing at J Cacciola and he helped me to make a connection with them. I love working with John. He has a different viewpoint and has helped expose on an international level.
My solo at J Cacciola went well. I always go back for the opening and try and meet the collectors. Its my way of saying thank you. The show in Laguna Beach last October was tough. The opening was the evening of the VP debate and there were and still are a lot of things going on with the stability of the economy. Eventually the show sold but things are still moving at a much slower pace as far as sales go.
NA: Who are some of your favorite painters: famous and not-so-famous?
LC: My favorite painters are: Franz Kline; Nathan Oliviera; Manual Neri; Joan Mitchell; David Park; Richard Diebenkorn; Catherine Mc Carthy; and Christopher Brown.
NA: Concerning your career as a painter, where would you like to be 25 years from now?
LC: Certainly painting but in terms of growth I would like to think that its going to get easier. Ha! I imagine that I will become more abstract.
Category: Interviews 8 comments »
April 6th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
“The figure in my work is me and it has taken years of exploration to finally realize this.”
Interesting statement.
I really like the energy of Linda’s work – -
April 9th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Great sense of color and pattern. Very much reminds me of the Bay figurative painters….but going further.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I love Linda’s work. I love her use of color and how the background is just as important as the figure – I almost do not consider these figure paintings.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
My books on the Bay Area Figurists are also covered in paint but not dust–not yet! I still need them close to me and now I can add Linda’s work to my inspirational stockpile.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
[...] call herself that. Regardless we have the same favorite artists. In an interview with her (article link) she [...]
December 29th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Love the mood created…and color combinations– the paintings have a wonderful originality.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:50 pm
You are right, darn good interview. Fabulous painter!
June 24th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Very painterly, wonderful colors and compelling forms. Stumbling block for many “figurative” painters is painting the human face and emotions in a “honest” way (not to be confused with “realistic”)…a difficult thing to do without the abstractness imparting a grotesqueness to the figure. Linda seems to do that fairly well…when she choses to include the face. In her work it seems that often the facial features are outside of the frame or hidden, but when the face is hidden or outside of the frame, the figure takes on a lonely or solitary persona, which can be limiting.