Catherine Goodman
And Everything Changed
Marlborough Gallery, London
June 29 - August 26, 2022
CATHERINE GOODMAN
Coming Together I, 2021-22
Oil on canvas, 204 x 209 cm
Courtesy of Marlborough Gallery
Marlborough London is pleased to present And Everything Changed, an exhibition of new work by Catherine Goodman that examines and positions human physicality into an intense relationship with the natural environment. Presented for the first time at Marlborough in London, select new works by the artist were also presented at the Masterpiece London (30 June – 6 July).
Created during London’s Covid-19 lockdown and whilst Catherine Goodman took on a new responsibility of caring for her elderly mother with advanced Alzheimer’s, this new series of paintings showcases an emergent female form in dialogue with trees and natural landscapes. Within the works, dark hair becomes tangled to form roots, and limbs extend like branches through swathes of vibrant oil paint vigorously applied to large-scale canvases. For Catherine Goodman the unprecedented yet universal experience of the pandemic allowed her imagination to take on a new visceral intensity during a period of almost complete isolation from the outside world.
Calling to mind mythological imagery recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which references Daphne’s transformation into a laurel tree to avoid Apollo’s pursuits, the landscapes and trees offer a refuge in a constantly shifting world. Catherine Goodman’s energetic painting style and heightened colours are all deeply rooted in observational drawing and her daily practice of drawing from life.
On her new body of work and practice Catherine Goodman says ‘As an artist and teacher, I - like many - relate to the world around me through my daily drawing practice and develop an intense and personal perspective of my natural subjects whether humans, plants or trees. The pandemic heightened not only my artistic focus but uncovered new meaning within my work. These paintings represent changes within the landscape, within humanity and within myself.’
CATHERINE GOODMAN (b. 1961) is based in London and Somerset. Goodman trained at London’s Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts and the Royal Academy Schools, winning the RA Gold Medal in 1987. In 2002, she won First Prize in the prestigious BP Portrait Award at London’s National Portrait Gallery. Following Goodman’s solo exhibition, Portraits from Life at the National Portrait Gallery in 2014, the Gallery acquired her portrait of film director Stephen Frears.
The Marlborough Gallery has represented Catherine for over 18 years where she has had numerous solo exhibitions, including the last house in the world in London (2016) and the light gets in in New York (2019). Other important solo exhibitions include Portraits from Life at the National Portrait Gallery in 2014 and Eve at Hauser & Wirth Somerset following five months as Artist in Residence in 2018.
Catherine Goodman is the Founding Artistic Director of the Royal Drawing School, which she established with HRH The Prince of Wales in 2000. The Royal Drawing School has since championed an array of emerging artists, such as Somaya Critchlow, Kathryn Maple, Christina Kimeze and Deanio X. In 2014, she was rewarded as a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order for her services to the School.
In 2023 Catherine will open a major solo exhibition at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.
MARLBOROUGH GALLERY
6 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BY
