Linda Fleming

Press Release

Brian Gross Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening of Figment, an exhibition of new sculptures and drawings by acclaimed Bay Area sculptor Linda Fleming, on Saturday, November 9, 2019, with a reception from 4–6pm and an artist talk at 4:30pm. On view will be seven new freestanding sculptures made of intricately cut, powder-coated stainless steel, along with a group of new large-scale drawings in pastel and colored pencil. The exhibition will be on view through January 4, 2020.

Linda Fleming’s newest works reveal her continued exploration of dynamic sculptural forms in which the interior volumes and exterior surfaces are of equal importance. Fleming’s multi-colored, powder-coated stainless steel sculptures are comprised of lace-like patterns cut into the layered planar sides of complex geometric forms. This opening up of her sculptures reveals their inner volumes while emphasizing the role of light and shadow in her work. Fleming’s sculptures are meditations on the metaphysics of geometric forms. By using different colors for her exterior and interior surfaces in combination with the web-like cutouts, Fleming creates charged optical effects that change when the sculpture is viewed from different perspectives.

On display will be seven sculptures made on a more intimate scale than the monumental works Fleming has become known for, ranging from just below three feet to five feet in height. In works such as Lightning, Cirrus, and Slant, Fleming combines radiant interior colors with softer tones on the outer surfaces of the sculptures, imparting them with a feeling of contained energy. In other works like Fire and Ice, Sundog, and Mirage, Fleming has cladded their exteriors in mirrored stainless steel, giving these works an electric charge. Also included in the exhibition will be five large-scale drawings made with pastels and colored pencils, in which Fleming has combined layers of organic patterns with sumptuous colors to create images flowing with movement.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Linda Fleming received her education at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and has been collected internationally. Fleming’s recent public commissions include monumental works for the Oakland Museum of California (2016) and Santa Clara University (2017). In 2007, she had a mid-career retrospective, titled Refugium, at The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and in 2018 the UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Colorado mounted Confluence: Linda Fleming, which presented eighty of her recent works. In 2016, Fleming received the International Sculpture Center’s 2016 Outstanding Educator Award and California College of the Arts mounted Linda Fleming: Tangible Mind at the Oliver Art Center. Fleming is currently Professor Emeritus at California College of the Arts, where she taught sculpture for 30 years.

Linda Fleming’s work is represented in major public and private collections throughout the United States, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA; Oakland Museum of California; Berkeley Art Museum, CA; Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, CA; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; Albuquerque Art Museum, NM; Djerassi Foundation, Woodside, CA; Runnymede Sculpture Farm, Woodside, CA; Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; and Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO, among others. Figment is Linda Fleming’s seventh exhibition with Brian Gross Fine Art.