Linda Francis: We Can Build You Opens at Minus Space

MINUS SPACE is opening a major solo show tonight, “Linda Francis: We Can Build You.” For Francis’ second solo show at the gallery she will be featuring new large-scale oil paintings on wood panel. Visitors will be excited to see these challenging works which formally tackle wide-ranging concepts including astronomy, physics, mathematics, and philosophy.  Collectively, Francis’ works explore deep-rooted epistemological questions.   What do we know?  What can we know?

Linda Francis, Studio shot.

Francis relates “this show is inspired by a small photocopy of an image made by electron microscopy. It is of a failed heat shield on one of  NASA’s space shuttles and was sent to me by a good friend who was working on the problem at the time [ I think in the early 90s].

I was inspired by two general things: The structure of the surface itself and the fact that he thought the image resembled my work, which it did.  Although these two things seem as though they would be mutually exclusive, they are not. That is to say, we are held in thrall to the world by its utter materiality and also by our own narcissism.

I’ve tried making prints before but was never satisfied by the process or the result. I have used the image since the 90s in small ways as collage. But a few years ago I decided that using this image in a painting format might give me the kind of tension between subject and object that I was after in all my drawing and painting

I started it in 2009 and although the process turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would be, I came across many things that interested me as I tried to make it work . As it turns out, the process opened up a new source of information for me to use as subject.”

Linda Francis, study for “Interference,” 2010 – 2012. Courtesy of the artist

Linda Francis: We Can Build You will be on view from February 15 – March 23, 2013.  Opening: Friday, February 15, 6-8pm.  minusspace.com