Anglim Gilbert Gallery is pleased to present Out of My Head, an exhibition of paintings by Judith Linhares. The Gallery has worked with the artist for many decades, presenting over ten exhibitions from the mid-70s to the present. The work in this exhibition celebrates this long and productive relationship.
Linhares’ subjects are often people and animals set in dream-like narratives. Her fables and allegories, depicted in a raw and immediate style, feature dark, outlined figures against luminous backgrounds. With broad brushstrokes, she creates personal mythologies from a fascinating collection of distorted animals, vivid flowers, and haunting figures. The paintings in Out of My Head include the ominous, gray-toned Grow (1972) with a skeleton watering an Agave; a dancing woman in a voluminous skirt, Spin (1997), and Rabbit (2005) with a larger-than-life hare sitting atop a meadow with bursting, rainbow-colored sky.
The artist states: “My paintings are constructed one stroke at a time imagining the dog, the cat, the wild beast, the tribe of Amazons, the lovers in their cave, the Sirens on the rocks. They are all in motion, all drinking, sweeping, looking, waiting, and performing tricks, and all are animated by light and shadow. Integrating the light with the dark, the conscious with the unconscious, illusion and materiality, combining opposites has been my goal all along the way. The story being told is all true and out of my head.”
Judith Linhares, a native of California, grew up in the high desert and beach cities of the southern part of the state and traveled north to Oakland to attend California College of Arts & Crafts for her BFA (1964) and MFA (1970). She lived and worked in The Bay Area until her move to New York City in 1980. She currently lives and maintains her studio practice in Brooklyn, NY.
Linhares had her first solo show, Love Letters from San Jose, in 1971 and the subject of love and domestic life have continued to be sources of inspiration and reflection throughout her career. The artist has had over forty solo shows since then and has been included in many important group exhibitions including Marcia Tucker’s seminal show, Bad Painting, in 1978 and the Venice Biennale in 1984. She is the recipient of the Artists’ Legacy Foundation Artist Award (2017), The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2013), John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1997), and three NEA awards (’79, ’87, ’93). Her work is represented in distinguished collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Oakland Museum, among others.