
LINDA STEIN: Gender Scrambling
22 April – 2 September 2023
Victoria Gallery & Museum
Ashton Street
Liverpool
L69 3DR
LIVERPOOL, UK – 20 March 2023: Brand new exhibition of work by American artist Linda Stein investigates and inverts gender roles and gender stereotypes.
LINDA STEIN: Gender Scrambling exhibition features 26 prints from Linda Stein’s series of the same name plus one of her Knight Adagio sculptures and her film short Running.
Linda Stein (b.1943) is a New York born and based Feminist artist whose work interrogates themes of gender identity stemming from her own struggles with her sexuality and sense of womanhood while growing up in the 1950s.
In 2011, Linda was caught up in the 9/11 attack on New York and was forced to flee her Tribeca home and studio, leaving her displaced for almost a year. This sense of panic and helplessness was enduringly traumatic, leaving an indelible imprint on Linda which has emerged through her subsequent artworks.
Linda makes visual a world where men wear dresses and women wear armour so the lines of gender become blurred into androgyny. She encourages the oppressed ‘other’ to be their own superheroes and fight their own battles. Themes of protection and valour in the face of bullying and struggles for social justice are integral to her work.
Of her work, Linda says:
“My goal as an artist is to use my art to transform social consciousness and inspire activism for peace, equality and diversity. With my androgynous forms and pop-culture icons, I invite the viewer to seek diversity in unpredictable ways, to ‘try on’ new personal avatars and self-definitions”
The artworks displayed in LINDA STEIN: Gender Scrambling are part of the University of Liverpool’s permanent art collection and was generously gifted by Mr Raymond C. Learsy in 2022. This is the first time they have been shown. The exhibition at the VG&M runs concurrently with a major retrospective of Linda Stein’s career at the Konstmuseet i Skövde, Sweden called Androgynous Protection: A Linda Stein Retrospective (22 April – 10 September 2023)
More about the artist:
Linda Stein was born in the Bronx. She studied art at the School of Visual Arts, Queens College and the Pratt Institute – all in New York. She is a multi-award winning artist who exhibits internationally and is represented in the major art collections of the world. Her work tours under the not-for-profit organisation Have Art: Will Travel! Linda Stein website: https://www.lindastein.com/home
LINDA STEIN: Gender Scrambling opens on Saturday 22 April 2023 and runs until 2 September.
The Victoria Gallery & Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm and admission to the exhibition is free. For further information visit: www.vgm/liverpool.ac.uk/ or follow the VG&M on Instagram, twitter or facebook.