Mike Goodlett
MARCH x Mrs.
NADA House
May 8–August 1, 2021
MARCH is pleased to announce our co-participation in NADA House with Mrs. Featuring new works on paper, sculptures, and site specific creations by Mike Goodlett, the presentation will be on view May 8 – August 1 on Governors Island, NY.
Mike Goodlett’s works act as vessels for desires, personas, and experiences, suggesting the explicit through their whimsy and form. Sculptures forged from plaster, concrete, enamel, and spray paint bloom from below, while delicately rendered drawings present sensuous and playful communions. The window adornments – created particularly for this space – fuse with the venue, binding Goodlett’s fantastical productions to the mysterious charms of their antique residence… read more
Installation view of Mike Goodlett’s work at NADA House 2021 on Governors Island, New York.
“Goodlett’s work is about self-preservation and the cost of love. His works on paper and Hydrostone sculptures depict so-called “deviant” desires that have often been safer to sweep under the rug in this rural setting. The amorphous sculptures appear to contain leering expressions and odd appendages: broad shoulders, hard nipples, pencil-thin mustaches. Drawn as distortions, the mystery men are never entirely at ease. They are simply ideas, mirrors, ghosts of pleasures past.”
– Daniel Fuller, Burnaway, 2021
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
22 1/2 x 18 inches
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
23 7/8 x 18 inches
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2019
Acrylic, spray paint, collage and graphite on paper
45 x 27 inches
“Goodlett’s drawings merge exquisitely rendered detail with saturated blocks of spray-painted color. Background and foreground fit together like puzzle pieces, the curvature of each silhouette a perfect accentuation of the other’s shape. Throughout his work, there is a distinct slippage between that which we perceive as positive and negative space, between the void and that which fills it.“
– Ben Durham, BOMB, 2015
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
23 5/8 x 18 inches
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
24 x 18 inches
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Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2020
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
23 1/8 x 17 3/4 inches
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil on paper
14 x 11 inches
“Goodlett has recently begun to consider his sculptures as altar-like objects. Their holes house spirits. They memorialize ways of desiring queerly which sometimes feel, for better or worse, in danger of dying out.”
– Paul Michael Brown, Burnaway, 2019
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and pastel on paper
12 x 11 inches
Mike Goodlett
MARCH x Mrs.
NADA House
May 8–August 1, 2021
Mike Goodlett’s (b. 1952) works act as vessels for desires, personas, and experiences, suggesting the explicit through their whimsy and form. Sculptures forged from plaster, concrete, enamel, and spray paint bloom from below, while delicately rendered drawings present sensuous and playful communions. The window adornments – created particularly for this space – fuse with the venue, binding Goodlett’s fantastical productions to the mysterious charms of their antique residence.
For many years, Goodlett’s oeuvre has resided in an old Southern farmhouse, hidden in the woods of rural Kentucky. The surrounding walls serve as more than shelter – like a temple, they protect and host their icons. The parallels between the colonial revival buildings of Governor’s Island and Goodlett’s studio are indeed uncanny, both adorned with historic moldings, peeling wallpaper, and carefully constructed nooks and crannies. Though far from home, the artist’s works engage with this resonance, illustrating a portal between these two curious shrines.
Goodlett lives and works in Kentucky. He earned a BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 1983. Solo exhibitions include Chez Lui at MARCH (Kentucky) in 2021, Mike Goodlett: Almost Folly at Tops Gallery (Memphis, TN), the 2019 Atlanta Biennial (Atlanta, GA), HOMEBODY at Christian Berst Art Brut (New York, NY), and Dress Socks and Other Diversions at Institute 193 (Lexington, KY). His work has been included in exhibitions at Mrs. (Maspeth, NY), the University of Kentucky Art Museum (Lexington, KY), The Elaine de Kooning House (East Hampton, NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (Atlanta, GA), and KMAC Museum (Louisville, KY). He has been represented by MARCH since 2020.
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Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
22 1/2 x 18 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
23 7/8 x 18 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and pastel on paper
12 x 11 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2019
Acrylic, spray paint, collage and graphite on paper
45 x 27 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
23 5/8 x 18 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
24 x 18 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2020
Colored pencil and spray paint on paper
23 1/8 x 17 3/4 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2021
Colored pencil on paper
14 x 11 inches
Inquire
Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2020
Concrete with oil-based enamel
19 1/2 x 11 x 13 inches
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Mike Goodlett
Untitled, 2020
Concrete with oil-based enamel
20 x 15 x 11 inches