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LINDA BESEMER |
For the last several years, Linda Besemer’s paintings have been made as “pure acrylic bodies which are displayed folded or rolled over rods, or attached directly to the wall in a way which allows their reattachment to different architectural environments." The fold paintings are digitally designed, but executed entirely by hand. Besemer paints layers of acrylic paint on glass, waiting for each layer to dry before the next is added. Countless gallons of paint are used in this process, which could take up to a year. Once complete, the painting is peeled off the glass in one thick, rubbery piece, and hung on an aluminum rod, allowing both sides to be visible. Although the stripes line up perfectly, the colors on the front and the back sides do not match, indicating that Besemer changed the color pattern as she added layers. How many times she changed the pattern can only be discerned by looking at the ends of the layers, which are difficult to see clearly.
Besemer challenges traditional views of painting in several significant ways. She created a two-sided painting, which has both a front and a back, along with some areas that cannot be seen. Rather than existing as a two-dimensional surface, her painting is three-dimensional, and needs no canvas or other type of traditional support. Besemer also follows the philosophy of "truth to materials." This philosophy, traditionally associated with sculpture, involves taking advantage of a material's natural abilities by not attempting to work against or beyond them. Besemer's paintings could only have been created in acrylic, whose plasticity allows for this unconventional treatment.
– Mariann Smith, Curator of Education