Note: These questions and answers will not be directly transcripted word-for-word but more idea-for-idea.
Question: Can you talk about systems colliding and how this plays out in your work?
Linnea’s answers: I have different categories of systems. Some are based off of grids, some are linear, some are organic. They are very rigorous, but have different appearances. Sometimes in the same canvas I’ll have different systems interact or collide.
They compete for the same resources of space. There is layering. Then I’ll sit back and watch them interact.
Sometimes it is really awkward, sometimes it’s really wonderful.
(It often takes 2 months to finish a piece, and I work on them one at at time.)
The truth is, artists love their limits. They create them for themselves. Often the most powerful work is severely limited by the problem solving you create for yourself.
Some artists use physical restraints. It becomes a sport. Performance art has its own love affair with limit. Painters accidentally or very intentionally have limits, and the power of our work comes from that.
The truth is, if we don’t have limits of some kind, we paralyze ourselves.
There is this American myth which prevents us from settling into an identity and hold all options open, and not many people talk about that.