Judy Linn

by Arlene Shechet

Judy Linn: LUNCH

April 12 - May 19, 2018

CUE Art Foundation is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Judy Linn
curated by Arlene Shechet.

There's never a dull moment when you're in Judy Linn's world. Her universe is alive with outstanding things; ordinary stuff and the light and space and color in, around and between the everyday. Hove being inside of Judy's vision because she sees and understands and communicates so broadly, incisively but with a light touch. 

My first take on Judy's work was that she is a sculptor disguised as a photographer. The green grass shadow blob made from light and a rooster, the big blocks of building that dissolve into a single plane, the yellow bucket holding down the floor with the Egyptian treasure, and the dangling light fixture spilling its guts are all revealing their material state while poking us to see beyond their thingness. I cannot help myself from seeing sculptural potential but I've come to see their rightness as pigments settled into paper. There are a lot of frames within the photos but Judy insists on exhibiting her finished photos in their unframed state...as paper, simply pinned to the wall. Their availability and the modesty of this presentation gives them unexpected weight as objects. It is also a signal to us that these gently humorous pictures are slyly packed with confidence. 

I know almost nothing about the academic discourse in photography but I know these pictures are deep things, not aloof but empathetic and piercing investigations of what is often ignored. And what's more, Judy's luminescent Walmart photo does the same thing for me as a majestic Ellsworth Kelly painting. 

I'm so pleased to be a part of sharing this work. 

-Arlene Shechet

View catalogue

Nancy Shaver’s pick for “The Artist’s Artists,” Artforum, December 1, 2018.

Brian Sholis, "Judy Linn at CUE Art Foundation" Artforum, Critics' Picks, May 4, 2018. 

"Judy Linn" The New Yorker, Goings on About Town, May 2018.

John Yau, "Judy Linn's Rigorous Geometry." Hyperallergic, May 19, 2018.