Northern California based artist, Linda Christensen, is not interested in showcasing the perfect human form, or in pedantically depicting in realistic detail a person’s exterior. Her sub-surface focus of emotional interiors is harder to reach, but for her, so much more worthwhile to tap into and express. Working intuitively while applying paint, Christensen builds up the surface of the picture plane with layers of smooth brush strokes and swatches of thick impasto, only to then scrape back and slice into this foundation with the pallet knife. The knife allows Christensen to move quickly, spontaneously and without a lot of detail. While the artist pays attention to the balance of contrast between line, brush mark, varying shapes, open and space, as well as content of information, the process is by no means contrived: “While I am in the process of applying the paint, I have no destination.” There’s a rhythmic physicality to Christensen’s works because of this, which is paralleled in the figures themselves. Their inner perspectives are communicated through their physical posture and stance, their corporeality. As a dancer in her free time, Christensen appreciates the inseparableness of the mind and the body, and embraces the physiological nature of emotion.
© Harriet Levenston 2015
© Harriet Levenston 2015
