Robert Goodman

Gallery Affiliations: Seraphin Gallery

Region: Northeast

Website: http://www.robert-goodman.com

City / State: Philadelphia , PA

I make large paintings that combine geometric constructions and areas of color overlaid with gestural brushstrokes. Navigating the tensions between pictorial space, physical environments, and flatness my works suggest a layering and compression of time, space and place.

My paintings are heavily worked and slowly built. There is a quality of staging in the paintings as recognizable pictorial devices are placed in contrast to one another presenting a fluid relationship of space, symbol, and form. The paintings occupy a nervous and frenetic terrain where fields of color struggle to define themselves. The pulsing lines and areas of darkness create a sense of urgency and domination.

My work recalls the imagery and structure of my native Florida where oversized plants and animals sit along large expanses of highway in a tropical tourist paradise. This combination of space, anti-space, and image is firmly rooted in me as both a source of aesthetic anxiety and excitement. The fear of collapse is matched only by the hope of endless possibilities.