Page 63 - Beauty Prime Magazine

Linda Karshan’s mesmerizing creation embodies a
perfect harmony of rhythm, structure, and organic
expression. Each line, born from her ‘inner
choreography,’ invites the viewer into a meditative
dialogue on movement, time, and the essence of
creativity.
In my work it’s never a case of influence
but of affinity.
My studies in psychology focused on
Donald Winnicott, whose theories of transi-
tional space and transitional phenomena are
key to my artistic practice. Winnicott’s the-
ories gave me ballast, even courage, to stay
in pace and place throughout the making of
an artwork.
He wrote about creative play. It’s a precari-
ous place that hovers between the unconsci-
ous and consciousness. He said it was here
and only here that anything original gets
made, and so it is. Every drawing of mine
comes through transitional space. Otherwise
Linda Karshan is a visionary
artist whose profound
exploration of transitional space
and creative play resonates
deeply, inspiring viewers and
fellow creators alike.
it would be manufactured.
Plato found me.
I had made a suite of prints which became
an artist’s book, Time, Being; le temps, lui.
I asked my friend, the philosopher David
Wiggins, to write an accompanying text.
After inspecting the prints for thirty minutes,
he said ‘Ah, there is no need. The text exists.
He sent me the passage from Plato’s Timeus,
on the creation of time.
As Mara Gerety wrote, ‘she moves her
body through each space.. marking out
Plato’s perfect numerical ordering of the
universe.’
Can you describe the role that your
concept “inner choreography” plays
in the creation of your prints and
drawings?
It is key. That inner choreography IS the
moving figure assigned to me. It determines
every drawing, on paper or in space. I can
count on it, literally and figuratively, and I
do. It sounds like this:
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 turn
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 turn
It’s what my body does, guided by my
mind. It first appeared in the drawing I
call my Self-Portrait. Crucially, the day it
appeared I saw Quad, the teleplay by Samuel
Beckett. It was as if I were watching my
drawing performed on stage. Beckett rema-
ins the artist with whom I feel the closest
affinity.
In 1994, you transitioned to a more
structured, rhythmic approach in your
art-making. What prompted this shift
from expressive compositions to per-
formance-based, iterative works?
The appearance of the moving figure, with
its numbers, rhythm and direction to turn the
sheet. When it came into being, I recognized
it for what it was. Thanks to Winnicott I
knew not to get in the way; not to impinge.
Once this small, iconic drawing was done, I
pinned it to the wall, caught my breath, and
knew I could begin.
So it wasn’t a transition I planned, but
one that appeared. I immediately saw its
significance. Yes, it is more structured, and
it is rhythmic, but it is in the same breath
organic.
How do the physical movements,
such as turning the paper counter-c-
lockwise and counting increments of
time, contribute to the geometric pat-
terns and grids in your work?
Two important things to say here. Perhaps
my most original jotting goes like this: man
marks himself vertically, it is the Earth that
turns. That’s how we make the grid, that’s
why we make the grid.
And so I have to turn the sheet. It’s directi-
ve. I have no choice.
I do not make the line that you read as
horizontal. It’s another vertical line. And
I never confuse my horizontals and my
verticals.
So turning the sheet is absolutely key, and
while I never thought that I make grids, of
course that’s what they are. Horizontal and
vertical lines, but they come into being as a
result of the turn.
Your MA thesis explored D. W. Win-
nicott’s theories of transitional space
and creativity. How do these psycho-
logical concepts continue to shape
your artistic practice today?
My thesis was called Play, Creativity,
and the Birth of the Self. I believe in those
things now more than ever. These ideas
are at the heart of every drawing I make.
They started with Winnicott, but developed
through my artistic practice.
It’s worth reiterating that Winnicott’s ideas
on transitional space are key to the artistic
side of my work.
The other key is my Bauhaus training, in
which I was taught to build a drawing, to
cross those corners. The drawing should not
fall apart when I get up close.
But Winnicott’s insistence on creative
space - it is here and only here that anything
original gets made - is essential.
You’ve exhibited in major galleries
and museums across Europe and
the U.S. How do you feel your work
has been received in these different
cultural contexts?
That’s a great question. There is a pre-
disposition in certain cultural milieu, where
my work can be seen and felt, because it’s
close to the experience of the viewer. It’s
in understanding this that I often think of
another passage, Plotinus, another Friend
of Time:
‘The mind sheds radiance on the objects
of sense, out of its own store.’
If a culture has in its store my figure—that
moving figure assigned to me—my work is
immediately recognized. It’s heartwarming
for me to exhibit in those places.
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