Alison Goodwin
:
Tradition and Generation
Tradition and Generation is an exhibition of new paintings by Alison Goodwin
Reception: Thursday, September 2, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
I have been painting fisherman saints for over 20 years now. When I began, I was drawn to the traditional, iconic image of a Maine fisherman—rugged, earnest, up before dawn for an honest day's work. Having grown up on the water in Kennebunk, I had memories of watching fishermen going back to my early childhood. By adding a halo, I sought to reflect the dignity and holiness of their hard work and their daily battle with nature. As Carl Little commented in 2008, my work sought to "elevate this simple man in his waterproof Grundens to, if not sainthood, the status of blessed symbol."
While this is still true, my latest fisherman saints take a new turn. I now try to see beyond the iconic symbols and to witness the rise of a new generation of fishers. I've lost interest in the iconic portrait. Instead, I want to paint real people, the ones I see where I live in Rockland—the young men and women rising to the challenge of taking on this critical role in our coastal communities. Sins and all, there's always something right with them, something redeeming, transformative, and integral to our relationship to the earth and creation.
~ Alison Goodwin
Influenced by Hundertwasser, Klimt, Matisse and Calder, Goodwin's work throughout her career is characterized both by her use of turbulent, saturated color and by the delightfully skewed perspectives of her compositions, typically depicting fisherman saints, unruly landscapes, expressive interiors, and kinetic villages. Goodwin's voice is energetic and funky, hip-yet-sincere. Though her work boldly references many masters, her style is unique, and distinctively her own. As art historian Shannon Egan put it: "By taking Gauguin's halo, van Gogh's colors, Matisse's patterns, and Picasso's ambiguities of subject and space, Goodwin presents a complicated marriage of particular art-historical references. She avoids pastiche and instead finds originality in a careful use of a visual and historical language. Goodwin translates the pictorial concerns of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artists into a new vision for contemporary painting."
Alison Goodwin graduated from the University of Southern Maine (1981) and Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art) (1984). Her work is included in private and corporate collections regionally and throughout the world, including those of Grown Brothers Harriman & Company, Wellesley College, Pierce Atwood, Nelson Kinder & Mosseau, Fletcher Allen Health Care, and National Semiconductor.
