Linda Jean John

What We Say

Writing can draw with a line that dips back and forth through meaning, in a single sentence.  Art usually presents us with a thing and a title, inviting us to dart back and forth, between words and image, to excavate meaning.

We ‘read out’ what the maker of the work is trying to tell us.

Unlike when we encounter a sentence however, our prehistorical imperative is to evaluate shapes, signs and visual messages, and to do so quickly so that we may react appropriately.  Searching for (and creating) plausible narratives is our thing, whether the originators intention is clear, forgotten, or has changed over time.

Art can throw up images or experiences that oblige us to take a very direct route to what we have nearly forgotten and/or have purposely submerged, whether we are willing participants in the exchange or not.

Despite the words attached to it in the form of label, every piece of Art is a found object (even when it’s not an object) and what we ‘find’, or bring, can change from moment to moment.

Linda Jean John (also unknown as ‘Le Gris’)

2016