Greene Naftali is pleased to announce BRETT GOODROAD’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Rainy presents a new grouping of paintings—infused with a palette of rich umbers, earthy reds, vivid greens, and coruscating yellows—that traverse the heavens and the soil, lingering in a space between abstraction and figuration. Conjuring the majesty and grit of the American Southwest, where the artist resides, Goodroad’s oeuvre remains distinctly grounded while delving into the recesses of the viewer’s psyche. With influences spanning from Watteau to Virginia Woolf, Goodroad evokes a sense of openness and isolation in equal measure. Hilton Als, writing for the New Yorker in 2021, observes how the artist’s paintings seem to “want to devour the very subjects that inspired them.” Oscillating between hunger and reluctance characterizes the delicate nature of Goodroad’s image making—a symbiotic relationship between surface, brush, paint, and idea, wherein metamorphosis becomes the subject itself. Rather than seeking to reconcile the tension between form and content through illusion or ineluctable objecthood, Goodroad’s approach embraces emergence as its focal point—an invitation to witness and be.
About the artist
Brett Goodroad (b. 1979) lives and works in Prescott, Arizona. A solo exhibition of his work, titled The Letter, was recently on view at Cushion Works, San Francisco (through January 27, 2024). Recent solo exhibitions include Greene Naftali, New York (2022; in collaboration with Cushion Works, curated by Hilton Als); ADZ Gallery, Lisbon (2022); Cushion Works, San Francisco (2021, 2017); Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco (2019; 2015); and Phoenix Art Space, Brighton, U.K. (2018). Significant group shows include Karma, New York (2021); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2019, 2018); and The Drawing Center, New York (2014), among others. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
