Linda Ganus

My work owes a debt to many past and present masters of figurative drawing, painting, photography and sculpture, although it is the result of a search for a modern and personal response to those masters and their traditions. The imagery in my work is usually recognizable and taken from our everyday lives and observations; at the same time, it is often juxtaposed in unexpected ways. Familiar but sometimes unsettling, there are references to the uncanny and psychological phenomena such as repressed dream wishes and the compulsion to repeat. Recurrent themes deal with issues of masculinity/femininity, ambition, longing, and our relationship to Nature as well as the nature of our own relationships.

In this series, “WUNDERWALD,” the forest stands as a metaphor for the tangled secrets of adulthood, rooted precariously in the perspective and memories of a child. Full of wonder, enticement and enigma, the forbidden figures meld with the ground of experience and waves of collective unconscious. Cartoonlike and anthropomorphic drawing outlines are gradually and increasingly overlaid with impasto as experiences weave their tendrils throughout our encounters, connections and revelations, lacquered over with a sheen of nostalgia and selective amnesia.

Linda Ganus, an adjunct faculty member at Lehigh University, holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. She is active as both a visual artist and a performing musician in the Lehigh Valley and New York metropolitan areas. She has received Best-in-Show and First Place awards in exhibits held at the Nurture Nature Center, Lehigh University and Moravian College, among others. Ms. Ganus has also studied at the New York Studio School and the New York Academy of Art, and has exhibited widely in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Her work has been commissioned by organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, David Sarnoff Research Center, Musical America, G. Schirmer, Inc., and the Kinhaven Music Institute, as well as numerous private collectors. Linda is a member of New Century Artists Gallery in New York City and currently lives in Easton, PA .