Linder makes drawings from life using traditional pen and ink on paper. Many of the works are in black ink, while others use a variety of colors, sometimes aptly, sometimes inexplicably. The subjects of the drawings are panoramic landscapes, plant studies, and an array of replicated documents. What ties these diverse subjects together is their relationship to several toxic waste sites around Buffalo, Tonawanda, and Niagara Falls, starting with the granddaddy of them all, Love Canal. It sounds like it would be abysmal, but Linder’s eye for meticulous detail and command of her medium makes for some stunning work.
Drawings like Yellow Weed and Ground are large scale studies of plant life, which presumably grow at one of the toxic sites. They are rich and nuanced, with small imperfections—drips and smudges that bear witness to Linder’s materials and process. By themselves, these would pass for monumental botanical illustrations, oversized versions of the kind artists have been doing for centuries. In the context of the overall theme of this installation though, they take on new poignancy, signifying among other things, nature’s remarkable endurance in the face of human despoliation.
