Crash, Hush...

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to Linda Celestian about her experience here as a studio artist and about Crash, Hush…, the show she most recently hung here at the DCCA with Kyle Ripp. Crash, Hush… features a dark diptych reminiscent of the ocean at night. One feels the intensity of movement and sound in the midst of abstraction. Linda’s previous work was rooted in nature; from her experiences spending childhood summers living on boat, to the collection of pods and other oddities she stores in her studio to this day. Linda is very articulate about her imagery and emphasizes new methodology she employs, that entails pouring and pushing paint in ways she hadn’t previously. Abstraction has taken over during her time in the studio here and while her work still stems from a natural source she pointedly moves away from mimicking nature to find a balance between its inspiration and her own. For the current show her work is moving even farther from her natural boundaries to include sound and sculpture. An unimposing CD player with headphones stands in the center of the room. Putting them on reinforces the imagery already at play in the space as an uncanny woman’s voice seems to be calling out of a depth for one. In contrast, the sculpture is light, embodying a different experience of the elements. Though her studies originally focused

on fibers and fashion they have not been present in her contemporary work. I feel, given Linda's passion for the new materials and the resulting work, The Ocean’s Whisper to Me, this will not become a solitary instance of sculpture in her greater oeuvre.

Visiting her studio space one is confronted with a series of dichotomies; old and new, realism and abstraction, and warm vs. cool palettes. All of the work she’s showing now presents cool blues, greens and grays. Unseen work in her studio (all on the right-hand side) exhibits intense reds and oranges. There’s a relatively small painting, possibly my favorite piece, hanging in the hall outside of her studio. The palette is very similar to Crash, Hush… but with the intrusion of a somehow romantic rust color that moves the work to great new places. The show will be up through the end of the month, so hurry in to see it.

To see more of her work online, or to arrange a studio visit yourself go to:

http://www.lindacelestian.com/

She has really beautiful bracelets for sale through the store link on her homepage!