WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2 – Linderism Exhibition (Linderism at Home) – Kettle’s Yard
WEEK 3 – ANALYSIS – TASK 2
Linderism Exhibition (Linderism at Home) – Kettle’s Yard
Linder as an artist was recommended to me by my tutors, as my style of work resembles Linder’s in terms of techniques and process; I enjoy creating different types of collages and once I discovered Linder’s work, I wanted to explore further into the exhibition ‘Linderism’ at Kettle’s Yard. Due to the Covid-19 virus, this exhibition has been placed online with many resources covering the video elements of the exhibitions as well as a curation tour on YouTube which allows me to gain information on all dimensions of the exhibition effectively. This is something I know I need to keep in mind when presenting may work, as presentation and curation is a huge part of representing the work I have created especially during a time where we need to adapt and highlight our work in more creative ways during this pandemic.
Through exploring the exhibition curation tour guide on YouTube, it is highlighted that the three key themes that run through Linder’s work are Feminism, which is inspired by her reading the magazine ‘Spare Rib’ in Manchester in the 70s, which was a key element within the Women’s Liberation Movement in the late 20th century as well as Dada, which Linder read in Dawn Ades’ book ‘Photomontage’. Dadaism is essentially political print culture which directly feeds within the themes of her controversial and provocative work but adapted to her own unique style. The last theme that runs through her work clearly is punk, she has the energy of the punk movement shown through her imagery of a sexual nature, the performance elements as well as the political side which links back to Dadaism.
“The Light with Nothing to Rest Upon”
These are a series of images Linder took in the Dicken’s club in Manchester during a drag competition in 1976-1977, the same time she made her first set of widely known collage prints. The name of these images really stood out to me, I later found out it was from a Charles Dicken’s book which links to the fact that these were taken at the Dickens club in Manchester. Personally, the energy in these pictures really excited me, they reminded me of the club kid scene in the 80s, where the youths were unapologetically themselves, enjoying the energy and spirit of being free in the night club as I could feel the emotions of the people through the pictures. All of these images are black and white which take away from the fashion and extravagant outfits that these people were wearing but highlight the emotions, the connection between the people in the images and their personality that you can clearly see through the pictures. Although Linder is not known for her photography as well as her collage, I feel like these show a key theme that she projects throughout all her work and shows how authentic she is when it comes to representing people’s identity and style.
When looking at her work from a more modern perspective, it is nice to see a woman creating work showing the naked body of a women and owning the sexuality of it herself, instead of creating something using a woman’s body and having it sexualized by the male gaze or men in the industry, it shows she is owning her own sexuality before other people can overly sexualize it themselves.
