ARTIST STATEMENT
I have long been fascinated by the philosophical concept of “sous rature,” a kind of erasure or deferring of meaning within language, including the visual, whereby a trace of what was before is always there. I have melded this with the idea of surveillance, creating art works that use the iconic redaction form from actual FBI files commingled with equally iconic, appropriated images from American culture. In these particular works, I am colliding the sweetness of American ideals of home and house with darker elements of power and control, drawing on the visceral and the remembered.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Linda R. James has been an artist for over sixty years, an art historian, and a writer. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago, a member of Artemisia Gallery, and participated in over seventy exhibitions. Adjunct/Senior Lecturer in studio art at various universities. Went for a Ph.D. in art history, modern European painting/minor in Semiotics, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Got an A.B.D. (all but dead…all but dissertation) in my early 50s, became a professor of art history. Published numerous essays on contemporary artists over the years. Stopped teaching in 2012. Recently moved to my childhood home state of North Carolina where I continue my life’s blood of painting, writing, and deeper study of all sorts of subjects.
© Linda R. James