Artnet | You Should Know Linder, the Art World’s Original Punk Provocateur « News

Artnet | You Should Know Linder, the Art World’s Original Punk Provocateur

July 9, 2024

Jo Lawson-Tancred

As our current cultural reckoning rushes to canonize once-fringe artistic practices, some have stood out for their impressive prescience. Linder has been a cult favorite since the 1970s when she burst onto the scene as front-woman of the post-punk band Ludus and gained recognition for her sharply satirical photomontage. One classic example, a naked woman with a clothes iron for a head, appeared on the cover of English punk rock band Buzzcocks’ 1977 debut single “Orgasm Addict.”

Today Linder is recognized as one of the foremost feminist artists of her generation, and her sprawling practice includes photomontage, drawing, photography, and performance. “I’ve conducted a half century enquiry into photographic images of sex, fashion, food and lifestyle,” Linder said in an email interview with me. “Collectively, we seem far more obsessed than ever in ‘curating’ our lives, our wardrobes, our mascaras even.”