Linda Stein (artist)

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For other persons of the same name, see Linda Stein.

Linda Stein (born ca. 1955?) is an American sculptor and feminist.

Stein was born in The Bronx to a working-class family, but showed aptitude and attended the School of Visual Arts and Queens College, where she earned a B.A. (cum laude) and, while working as an art teacher, an M.A. at the Pratt Institute.

Her career began with a calligraphy service that became the premier vendor in New York, used by Tiffany's and Cartier. The business was one of the pioneers in the art gentrification of TriBeCa.

Stein's artistic career began to take off in the 1990s with a sculpture series fusing machetes with wood, rope and other materials. She also paints and works in mixed media.

Stein is a noted feminist and a member of the Veteran Feminists of America. In 2005, the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen tricked her into an interview with his character Borat (telling her he was a journalist for Belarus Television making a documentary about the United States), which was included in his 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. In the interview, Cohen had Stein responding seriously to his ludicrous attitudes on women, until Stein stormed off the interview set.[1][2] Stein is currently popular among feminists for her objection to the final editing of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

When Stein told Borat that women in America can do anything men can, be president, secretary of state ("Oh, like that chocolate lady?"Borat replied) or even a reporter, Borat argued, "No. I can lift a chair!" At which point he stood up and lifted a chair. Not to be outdone, Stein lifted a chair as well. "I can lift two chairs," Borat countered, lifting two chairs. Stein did the same. And she now takes exception to the omission of this scene from the film. "He didn't choose the segments that really make the point that women are equal and strong. He didn't make the point with sexism that perhaps he did with anti-Semitism and homophobia."[3]

[edit] Selected solo exhibitions

1974 STEIN: NEW WORK, PAF Gallery of Fine Art, New York
1975 CONSTRUCTIONS, Gallery North, Scarsdale, New York
1977 PROFILE, Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida
1988 CHAIRS AND OTHER CONSTRUCTIONS, Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York
1989 -STEIN ENVIRONMENTAL EXCAVATION, Becton Hall Gallery, Fairleigh Dickenson University, New Jersey
STEIN EXCAVATION, Presented by mayor-Elect David Dinkins, gallery of Manhattan Borough President, New York
1991 -BLADES: TRANSCENDING AGGRESSION, Monmouth County Arts Center, New Jersey
BLADES: REVERSING VIOLENCE, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Window on Broad, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia
BLADES: A PSYCHOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT, Fairleigh Dickenson University, Edward Williams Gallery, New Jersey
BLADES IN NEW YORK: A MULTI-MEDIA ENVIRONMENT, Soho 20, New York
1994 -LINDA STEIN BLADES, Jamaica Arts Center, Queens, New York
1996 -MUSICAL BLADES, Cortland Jessup Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts
1998 -LINDA STEIN SOUNDING BLADES, Spiva Art Museum, Joplin, Missouri
2002 -LINDA STEIN EMBEDDED GLYPHS, The Art Club, New York
2004 -LINDA STEIN - THE FACE: AN OBSESSION (three decades), Morgan Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
2005 -LINDA STEIN - "(K)NIGHT WATCH," New York University, Broadway Windows, New York
2006 -LINDA STEIN - KNIGHTS, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York
LINDA STEIN - SCULPTURE OF THE HEROIC WOMAN, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
LINDA STEIN - WONDER WOMAN REBORN, The Art Mission Gallery, Binghamton, New York
LINDA STEIN - HEROIC VISIONS, Longstreth Goldberg Art, Naples, Florida