Charles Linder's piece/book, Mudslinger, as with it's companion Vespertine, offersanother illuminating collection of important moments within his artwork and along his path, drawing upon his travels, friendships, and business relations. For years, Linder has posited that his life is an active sculpture and that the events surrounding them are all objects which have happened in a timeline of action-based art.
In the political arena, "mudslinging" refers to that malicious dragging up of events and data which are designed to malign or misrepresent opponents who are locked in electoral battle. In Linder's ontological arena,"mudslinging" refers to that furious wheel of energy which is his life and to the residual, earthen trail that has been spun up onto his shirt -- his proof that it is not so much where he is going as it is the trail itself which has formed him and drawn him, literally.
Charles likes to blur the lines between his art and life and let the viewer decide what's working. His past shows have often read like some kind of abstract daybook of his discoveries, adventures and small breakthroughs. Here, one could say the same, with each work in the show being like one word in a sentence, one chapter in a book, a few seconds from a movie -- each of which contribute to and form, the whole work.
Published on occasion of the artist's exhibition at La Casa del Tunel in Tijuana, Mexico, November 2013.
108 pages, hardbound, 8.25 x 8.25 inches