Brenda Goodman (born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

in 1943) is an artist and painter currently living and working in Pine Hill,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Her artistic practice includes paintings, works on paper, and sculptures.

Background and education

Goodman received her

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in 1965 from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. She received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the College for Creative Studies in 2017. From 1965 to 1975, when she moved to New York City, Goodman was a member of the

Cass Corridor The Cass Corridor is the name of the neighborhoods on the west end of Midtown Detroit. It includes the Cass Park Historic District, the Cass-Davenport Historic District and Old Chinatown. The corridor's main street, Cass Avenue, runs parallel wi ...

Movement, the group of artists from Detroit's

neighborhood whose work responded to the post-industrial decline sweeping the country. It has been noted that "as one of the few women associated with the movement, Goodman’s work is especially notable."

Work

Goodman has described her intuitive approach to painting as “akin to the improvisations of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

”. She has been recognized for her unorthodox use of painting materials and her exploration of both

abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or " concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An a ...

and

representation Representation may refer to: Law and politics *Representation (politics), political activities undertaken by elected representatives, as well as other theories ** Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a ...

in her work, which often combines elements of both. Her self-portraits have been called "one of the most powerful and disturbing achievements of portraiture in modern art". John Yau writes "...Goodman had absorbed lessons from

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

, Expressionism, and

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

, as well as from

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/ Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on o ...

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgium, Belgian Painting, painter and Printmaking, printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was ...

Alfred Kubin Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin was born in Bohem ...

, and

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

Exhibitions

Goodman's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums including one-person exhibitions at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, Jeff Bailey Gallery, the College for Creative Studies Center Galleries, Paul Kotula Projects, and Life on Mars Gallery. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at

The Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

in New York City, the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Collections

Collections of Goodman's work can currently be found within: The Museum of Modern Art, The Birmingham Museum of Art, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The California Center for the Arts Museum, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Agnes Gund Foundation, Cranbrook Art Museum, The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, The Detroit Institute of Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago, The First National Bank of Chicago, The American Medical Association Headquarters, and The Rutgers-Camden Collection of Art.

Recognition

Goodman has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants. She received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships in Painting, and an award from the Academy of Arts and Letters. Goodman has been a visiting artist at many esteemed colleges and universities across the United States and Canada including: The University of the Arts, The Parsons School of Design, Bard College
Hunter College
The University of Michigan, The University of Tennessee, and The University of Windsor.

References

External links

Official website

Kossak Painting Program video

Video interview on Gorky's GranddaughterTalk with John Yau at Life on Mars Gallery"Watching and Waiting", Essay on Hyperallergic