Joan Linder draws with meticulous, methodical obsession. You can read every word of the label on a near-life-sized organic milk carton, one among a hundred minutely observed everyday objects forming a panoramic chronicle of domestic bliss and chaos, amplitude and guilt – the kitchen countertop. Linder hatches and crosshatches black and colored inks without inflection to achieve vivid saturations of “cheerful” color against the white of the paper, an effect of forensic clarity. (Linder has drawn research and pathology labs with similar comprehensiveness.) Despite their commanding rigor, Linder’s drawings never feel dry, clearly proceeding from internal geometries wobbling with curiosity and willfulness. The press release is at pains to offer that Linder’s husband shares in domestic chores, so a knee-jerk feminist reading is too easy: the double basin sink here, with dirty dishes on one side, rinsed ones on the other, might be a quotidian reminder of sin and redemption, or the bicameral nature of an artist’s life.
Joan Linder: Sink on view through May 24, 531 West 26th Street, 1st Fl, between 10th and 11th avenues, New York City, 212 331 8888
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