Mixed-media art mixes or combines various aspects of art practice that are traditionally distinct or separate in a layered collage-like fashion. In mixed media you might see painting mixed with photographs, drawing, text, or even layered-in scraps of material. There is a fine example of mixed-media art on display at the Madison Gallery at 1020 Prospect Place. Madison has six 3-foot-by-3-foot mixed-media paintings by the young emerging artist William Goodman, age 28, who is from Jackson, Miss. The show is called “Erotic Serenity.” Goodman has been garnering a good deal of attention these days with sold out shows in New York. He was also featured in the 2009 edition of the journal New American Painting, a publication that showcases promising young artists. Lorna York, the owner of Madison Gallery, said she selected Goodman for exhibition because, “He is edgy, young, exciting, and one of the best of the new artists.” York continued, “Goodman’s work embodies the dark sensuality of the 1970s and 1980s and strongly appeals to both those who have lived during those times and those who can only imagine it.” York suggests that Goodman’s work “looks at urban decay and the broken American dreams in extreme paintings which mix the fashion and sensuality of today with nostalgic retro images such as of old cars and commercial signage.” Goodman’s paintings are characterized by muted pastel-like colors, especially baby blues, beige, grays and off-whites. They contain photographic transfers, especially of sexy, young, alluring women — provocatively dressed; sometimes young men, old cars, guns, grenades, text, geometric doodles, numbers, stencil and commercial or cosmopolitan signage, such as street signs, Dairy Queen or porn shop marquees. In each of Goodman’s paintings there seems to be a kind of dangerous and/or aggressive sexuality lurking and a hidden message potentially revealing something about his life experience, which is up to you to discern or psychoanalyze. “My art uploads fragments of my life. My experience all come together unleashing raw emotion on the canvas,” Goodman said. “My images echo deep layers in my own life experience. My art changes periodically as I unwrap experiences embedded in my own soul.” Goodman, who is a graduate of The North Carolina School of the Arts, has been drawing since he was a child. He said that he is influenced by the fashion industry, electronic music, film noir, and artists such as Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. Whenever he travels, Goodman shoots hundreds of photographs which become part of an archive which he draws upon. He describes his artistic process in these words: “Everything begins with an initial image. I work from my illustrations toward collages, from my photographs to abstract composing. The final product becomes a mixed- media painting.” The Goodman exhibition will be on display for an indeterminate period of time at Madison Gallery. There are also some colorful abstract impressionist works by Luc Leestemaker and James Verbicky on exhibit. For further information see: enhancedmixture.com or madisongallery.com.
