Frances Goodman

Frances Goodman is a multimedia artist born in Johannesburg, South Africa, who works with objects such as acrylic nails, false eyelashes, sequins, and jewellery to create sculptural and relief works.

By employing these materials and efforts, Goodman’s artworks draw attention to popular culture definitions that narrow the possibilities of female identity to extremes of consumption, aspiration, obsession, desire, and anxiety. Though her work reflects a society in which objects can define and burden people, it also celebrates the use of these materials as symbols of empowerment.

Her humorously dark sculptures and installations suggest how both real and perceived self- conscious anxieties play a disproportionate role in governing women’s lives. In her examination of beauty conventions and common material possessions, Goodman reveals both the self-imposed and external pressures to conform to societal expectation. Meanwhile, the glossy and sensual surfaces of her sculptures capture the underlying libidinal energy that motivates consumption with the gleaming, metallic glint of nail polish.

 She obtained a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College at the University of London in 2000. Goodman holds a Laureateship from the Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten (HISK) in Antwerp, Belgium. She was a recipient of the Cecily Brown Fellowship for Outstanding Woman Artists in 2014 and took part in The Fountainhead Residency Programme in Miami, USA, in 2015. Frances Goodman cemented her practice with the presentation of her debut solo exhibition, Intimate/ Inanimate Moments  in 2003 at The Process Room, Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. She has since exhibited extensively in South Africa and internationally, recent solo exhibitions include; Spit/Swallow, at Galleri SPECTA, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2018; Beneath Her  at Richard Taittinger in New York City, USA in 2017; Degreened  at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa; and Rapaciously Yours , Richard Taittinger Gallery in New York, USA, both in 2016; Let Your Hair Down , curated by Jennie Lamensdorf as part of the (TEI) Art-in-Buildings Programme in New York, USA; Lick It , Walgreens Art Windows, Art Center South Florida, in Miami, USA, all in 2015; and The Sweetest Ride  at TM Projects, in Geneva, Switzerland in 2014.

Goodman’s work has formed part of a number of group exhibitions in both South Africa and abroad. Most recently: the Investec Cape Town Art Fair presented by SMAC Gallery at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa; Le jour qui vient , curated by Mari-Ann Yemsi, at the Galerie des Lafayette in Paris, France; All Things Being Equal , at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, (MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa, both in 2017; The Future is Female, at 21c Museum, in Louisville, USA; Herselves, at Blue Project Foundation, in Barcelona, Spain, both in 2016; The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited  by Contemporary African Artists, a travelling exhibition curated by Simon Njami, at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, USA in 2015, SCAD Art Gallery, Savannah, Georgia USA and Museum für Modern Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt, Germany, all in 2014; The ‘F’ Word: Feminism in Art , at The Untitled Space, in New York, USA; Money Makes the World Go Round , Galleri SPECTA, Copenhagen, Denmark in 2015. She also featured in States of Mind, at Maison Particulière, Brussels, Belgium in 2014; and Not Human, Nor Stone  at the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town in 2011.

Frances Goodman’s work forms part of numerous significant public and private collections, including the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), in Cape Town, South Africa; Foundation Sindika Dokolo, in Luanda, Angola; the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC, USA; and the Matthais & Gervanne Leridon Collection, in Paris, France.

Goodman recently presented a solo presentation at the Dallas Art Fair in Dallas, USA, and a group presentation at artmonte-carlo in Monte Carlo, Monaco, both in April 2018. She is currently exhibiting in Not a Single Story  – a group exhibition in collaboration with the NIROX Foundation, South Africa, and The Wanås Foundation, Sweden – at the NIROX Foundation Sculpture Park in Johannesburg,

South Africa, from 12 May - 29 July 2018; and DAK’ART, The Biennale of Contemporary African Art, DAK’ART, in Dakar, Senegal from 3 May - 2 June 2018. Goodman is also preparing for her upcoming solo exhibition at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg in September 2018.