Judith Linhares came of age during the socially turbulent “take-it-to-the-streets” days of feminism, underground comics, and Northern California bohemianism.

Several years after graduation from California College of the Arts, she received the prestigious Adeline Kent Award 1975 “in recognition for her contributions to the art of the region”. 

After participating in Marcia Tucker’s seminal exhibition “Bad” Painting (1978), she used her National Endowment for the Arts Award to move to a Lower Manhattan loft with skylights.

A critic described her work, “she sets enigmatic subject matter against washes of intense color to produce paintings that read as lyrical poems”. Reviews of 40 one-person shows and survey catalogue “Dangerous Pleasures”  (1994) established the vocabulary, which references Linhares as the generational mentor.