temperatures
Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art
Houston, Texas
March 18, 2022 - May 7, 2022
At this time in our society, Anne Lindberg is drawn instinctively to intense fluorescent color. Relative saturation and unexpected adjacencies of color in her drawings have become vehicles for speaking about pressing realities. By placing passages of high chromatic color within an on-going flow of graphite, she is embedding her new work with code and using a set of visual cues to signify concern, alarm, and action.
When speaking about her work for temperatures in the Viewing Gallery, Lindberg says, “The weight of the moment is palpable. My father was an energy economist and geographer who, when I was young in the 1970s, often spoke about access to potable water as the future shortage of greatest magnitude. He studied and advocated for the economic viability of renewable energy sources. He and my mother, who was an artist, taught me and my brother the beauty and significance of history and helped us understand that the way we live in the present etches a path that deeply affects the future. It has become increasingly important for me to combine the science and art teachings of my parents with intention in my work.”
Her new drawings use the temperature of color expressively. Each drawing contains interruptions, disturbances, zips, and flashes of errant color — striking reds, chartreuse, orange, lime green, brilliant blue, fuchsia. They are expressions of captivation and despair, at once rhythmic and jarring and oftentimes ethereal.
These drawings are made by pulling thousands of lines across pliant cotton mat board with the full range of graphite pencils (21 choices from 10B to 10H), most often with a colored pencil layer atop the graphite. Lindberg varies the angle, pressure, speed, and proximity of marks to generate subtle gradients with an atmospheric light. Each color suggests the next to achieve a range of dissonance and harmony. Subtle changes in the pressure of her hand allow her to shift tone, alignment, and saturation in the fluid field of seemingly systemic marks.
As an artist who uses delicate tools like the pencil and fine thread, Lindberg is interested to challenge long-held definitions of abstraction and to redress its legacy by unfolding new ideas for how abstraction can communicate with more inclusive approaches.
