PRESENTATION: Joan Linder-Fulfillment

Joan Linder is known for her labor-intensive drawings that contain thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of tiny lines. Her subjects include the banality of mass-produced domestic artifacts; the politics of war; sexual identity and power; and the beauty disclosed in the close scrutiny of natural and man-made structures. This diversity of subject matter is a critical element in my attempt to express the complexity and variety of contemporary life.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Cristin Tierney Gallery Archive

Joan Linder’s solo exhibition “Fulfillment” is a multimedia installation that examines aspects of the “hidden-in-plain-sight” landscapes of e-commerce, cloud computing, crypto-mining, as well as the legal contracts that bind us to these technological systems. Both horrified and fascinated by the dematerialized digital systems of transaction and communication, Linder uses pen and paper to critically reconnect the digital world to one of tangible nature. The exhibition includes the artist’s drawings, video, and sculptures. Linder largely draws from observation. For this exhibition, she visited e-commerce sites in Buffalo and Niagara, NY. On each of her trips, the artist drew the sites while sitting in her parked car outside the buildings. The resulting body of work consists of accordion books of drawings of crypto-mining warehouses, cloud computing server farms, fulfillment centers, and surrounding neighborhoods in Buffalo. The landscapes will be accompanied by a selection of hand-drawn text facsimiles of “terms of service” and “email communications” with ubiquitous digital platforms, such as Amazon and Meta. As she says “My subjects include the banality of mass-produced domestic artifacts; the politics of war; sexual identity and power; and the beauty disclosed in the close scrutiny of natural and man-made structures. This diversity of subject matter is a critical element in my attempt to express the complexity and variety of contemporary life”. Completing the exhibition are Linder’s handmade paper reproductions of discarded Amazon shipping boxes. Made from ink, paint and watercolor on archival cotton paper, the boxes are life-size and form near-perfect replicas of the actual objects. Each box carries marks that trace and reflect their material history, from supply chain to fulfillment center to user. In examining the multiple components of the e-commerce supply chain, “Fulfillment” highlights the heavy physical toll carried by our digital behaviors. Nearby are long accordion-fold drawings of urban landscapes showing the vast but deliberately unspectacular presence of e-commerce warehouses and server farms near Linder’s home in Buffalo, N.Y. In format, the drawings are inspired by Ed Ruscha’s famous photo books like “Every Building on the Sunset Strip”, but where Ruscha’s photos convey affectless pop cool, Linder puts the emphasis on drawing created over time and through direct observation.

Photo: Joan Linder, 24/7 (Video still), 2024, 4K video, sound, 7:45 minutes, Edition of 5 plus 1 artist’s proof, © Joan Linder, Courtesy the artist and Cristin Tierney Gallery

Info: Cristin Tierney Gallery, 219 Bowery, Floor 2, New York, NY, USA, Duration: 21/6-9/8/2024, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, www.cristintierney.com/