March, 2009 Exhibition

March 5 - 28, 2009

Scott Goodwillie: Reluctant Gods

Preview Reception:  Wednesday, March 4, 2009
First Thursday Opening: March 5, 2009
Gallery Hours: 12-5pm, Wednesday - Saturday

LifeInaPassingStorm.jpgThe inspiration for this series of oil paintings centers on painter Scott Goodwillie’s intense love of world mythologies and how they developed, coupled the personal relationship he has with his long term model, Nicomis.  

Goodwillie remembers watching her for the first time walking down Broadway in Manhattan – an experience he describes as watching a reluctant goddess. A shy person by nature she had made herself a work of art whom everyone wants to interact with and many want to touch.  A friendship developed over time between the pair, and over the next few years their discussion of arts’ spiritual attributes; the role of myth and religion throughout history, intercultural relationships and racial politics seeped into the work itself.  

While only a few of the paintings in this series are included in the exhibition, Goodwillie’s focus continues to involve the human quality of the god or goddess portrayed. With all the neurosis, self doubt and exhaustion this societal position must encapsulate, the artist portrays real people in these narratives. The large piece Tale of the Reluctant Goddess  lends its title to the exhibit.   This new work features a new model as the new goddess, who is not too thrilled to take the mantle.  The concept is inspired by a Nepalese ritual of the Kumari in which a young girl is chosen to portray the new manifestation of the goddess Durga. Upon her first menstruation she loses the title and a new girl is chosen to replace her.

Scott Goodwillie was the featured artist at the Frye Art Museum, and has recently been interviewed by American Art Collector Magazine.  Click here to read the interview transcript.

 Image above: Scott Goodwillie, Life in a Passing Storm, oil on canvas, 30 x 45 inches, 2008
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