BIO
Linda Hart is a Los Angeles-based artist. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Ph.D. in Architecture from UCLA. The subject of her dissertation—architectural representation—is the foundation for her art. She has taught at several architecture and design programs including SCI-arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture), UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, and Art Center College of Design, among others. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, the AIA Los Angeles Chapter, CO Architects, KAA architects, and several fundraisers and auctions.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work seizes upon the potential of architectural drawings to be translated into intriguing compositions. I create the images through a process of interpreting and distilling the original plans and elevations. To distance the drawings from their architectural roots, I eliminate or alter identifying elements such as windows, stairs, and doors and emphasize and reconfigure the remaining elements.
When I begin a project, I choose one of three printing methods. Pre-20th century projects are either white-on-white embossed prints on heavy paper, or letterpress. The embossed and letterpress prints have a tactile quality and are more closely modeled on the originals. Their handmade quality is appropriate for subjects from a time when drawings were hand-crafted. 20th and 21st century works are made digitally with archival pigment on archival paper. Digital prints more accurately represent the architecture of the 20th and 21st century. All three types of prints embody precision and geometric abstraction.
An architectural plan or elevation is the foundation or jumping off point for the piece. In the sense that conventional architectural drawings are abstractions of the building itself, my works are abstractions of abstractions. My ultimate goal is to create a print not easily identifiable as architectural in nature, but is, instead, an abstract, geometric composition—an exploration of pure form and color.