Frances GOODMAN (b. 1975)
You II
2003
photograph and audio monolougue
80 x 80 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Frances Goodman was born in Johannesburg, where she currently lives and works as a practising artist. She completed a Masters in Fine Art at Goldsmith’s College at the University of London (2000) and held a laureateship at the Higher Institute for Fine Art in Antwerp, Belgium (2001 – 2003).
Goodman investigates the relation between beauty regimes, obsession and neuroses, working with materials generally affiliated with female identity, including jewellery, false eyelashes and acrylic nails.
Goodman’s installations and sculptures, which have been described as ‘humorously dark’, comment on how heightened self-awareness and self-consciousness become a disproportionate aspect governing women’s lives. Rebellious in nature, Goodman’s work challenges the male gaze as well as the influences of mainstream, popular culture and media. The sheen and sensuous surfaces of her work allude to the latent libidinal energy that stimulates consumption, as seen in her use of glossy nail varnish.
In an artist statement published in ArtThrob, Goodman states, ‘The mundane, the ordinary and the trivial have always been of interest to me, as I believe they all obscure dark places, issues and emotions that people do not wish to confront.’
Recent solo exhibitions include: Red Runs Through, Galerie Les Filles Du Calvaire (Paris, France, 2023), Altered States, SMAC (Johannesburg, 2022), Ecstasy, Galleri SPECTA, (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2021), Summer Focus: Frances Goodman, Galleri SPECTA, (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2021) and Transmogrified, Richard Taittinger Gallery, (New York, US, 2021).
Recent group exhibitions include: I Hit You with a Flower, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (Schiedam, The Netherlands, 2024), Frieze Sculpture, (Gallery Specta, London, UK, 2024), Failure, Gallery Les Filles Du Calvaire (Paris, London, 2024), She Suffers So Much More, Gallery Specta (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024), Detour: Can Creativity Change the World?, (Saatchi Gallery, London, UK, 2023), Latitudes Art Fair, SMAC Gallery, (Johannesburg, 2023), The Kilbourn Collection, Norval Foundation (Cape Town, 2023), Art Paris, Gallery Les Filles Du Calvaire (Paris, France, 2023), Persona, Gallery Les Filles Du Calvaire (Paris, France, 2023), Investec Cape Town Art Fair, SMAC Gallery (Cape Town, 2023).
Goodman’s awards include: Cecily Brown Fellowship for outstanding woman artist US (2014); Werkvbeurzen, Flemish Community, Belgium (2004) and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, Scholarship, South Africa (2002).