Joan Linder: Belly

Joan Linder: Belly
January 12 - February 23, 2024

Known for highly detailed pen and ink drawings, Linder’s practice is wide-ranging, with recent works considering the intimacy of domestic interiors; the strange, detached communication of Zoom meetings; capitalist consumption and impulsiveness fueled by companies like Amazon; or the ominous but nameless environmental sites for crypto currency mining. The works take many forms — life-sized scrolls, artist books, and larger-than-life renderings intended to envelope the eye — yet all are tender, inquisitive, and critical examinations of the subject matter at hand.

Belly includes monumental and intimately sized oil paintings, produced between 1999 - 2001, of fleshy male bellies. Depicted standing proud, timid, or bent over in positions of vulnerability, Linder renders the figures as soft, dimpled, and imperfect against washy pastel colored backgrounds — a feminine counter to the hyper-masculine. The largest works in the exhibition are imposing at 60 x 73 inches, and absorb the eye. In these works, Linder transfers the power of empathy and critical observation to the viewer.

This body of work provides a glimpse into the power structures and gender politics of the late 1990s, in the art world and beyond. At the time of production, Linder worked in midtown Manhattan as a curator for a significant corporate art collection. Ensconced in this culture, she was interested in the daily manifestation of power in corporate America and the art world. This led to a series of paintings of men and machines, exploring tropes of masculinity, and aimed at poking and prodding embodiments of power.