TRUE COLORS
REVOLVE, Asheville NC
Statement - Linda Larsen

The phrase true colors has a nautical origin dating back to the 1700s and refers to the color of the flag that ships at sea were required to fly. Pirates deceived other ships by sailing under false flags so they would not arouse suspicion. Thinking that the pirates were friendly, other ships sailed close to them and fell under their grip. It was only after an attack that the pirates showed
their "true flag". And so it continues, albeit with negative connotations, that the expression true colors has long been an identifying badge. For a lifetime I’ve been making paintings of the human figure, mostly from stored memories of watching people; where words fail, pictures have never let me down. I’m not suggesting that pictures arrive without their own stories, but my hope is that this work helps to bring the viewer into her/his own story. The finished work might be stagnant on the wall but this doesn’t mean the experience of looking at it stands still. That there is no ‘one way’ to look at art, or anything for that matter, is reassuringly individual and independent.

When I came upon Cyndi Lauper’s eponymous song, her interpretation inspired me to reflect on true colors as characteristics that were hidden because of retribution or disapproval from others. Right up my alley! This work is an invitation to be intimate with your own true colors.

It is a great honor to reunite with Butoh artist Constance Humphries, Projection designer Adam
Larsen, and Sound composer Kima Moore for this collaborative project at Revolve.

REVOLVE is located at 821 Riverside Dr #179
(inside the RAMP Building, next to French Broad Chocolate)