Frances Goodman, Black Crackle, 2021. Acrylic, foam, fiberglass and silicone nails, 26 19/50 × 31 1/2 × 12 1/5 in.

Françoise Goodman: Transmogrified

Richard Taittinger Gallery

Until July 24

By PETRA MASON, July 2021

With its lush post-pop colors, metallic sheen and sparkling autumnal hues, artist Frances Goodman’s third solo exhibition “Transmogrified” “explores the imaginary realm manifested through our phone and computer screens during Purgatory of lock, ”says the Johannesburg-born and based artist.

Luckily, I was able to attend two of Goodman’s three solo exhibitions in the gallery space on the Lower East Side.In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.

This time around, somewhat subdued and still locked in an unvaccinated South Africa – albeit both in the same city – the artist and I chose to do an IG interview and visit.

With the rise of “immersive art experiences” and disgusting Instagram-compatible art, Frances Goodman questions the superficial subcultures of online makeup by returning the digital gaze.

For Goodman, nail art has been a longtime muse, and for ‘Transmogrified’ the artist has honed and polished his mastery of the medium by working with chrome nails to produce his strongest sculptures to date.

The artist’s glitter paintings sparkle like showgirls – adding a dimension of otherworldly glamor to the characters photographed and depicted in her painstakingly crafted portraits. In a continuous play on process and medium, the glitter itself is part of the static “performance” of the works of art. Glitter refracts, reflects and changes color with light, movement and point of view, as the medium integrates with its subjects.

Frances Goodman, Incarnadine Brilliance, 2020. Acrylic, foam, fiberglass and silicone nails, 52 19/25 × 28 7/20 × 18 9/10 in.

PETRA MASON: The titles of your exhibitions are always intriguing and the vocabulary is growing. Why “transmogrified”?

FRANCES GOODMAN: “Transmogrify” means “to transform oneself in a surprising or magical way”. This is the process that I explore, both in the subject matter and in the way I use my materials.

PM: Dare I ask you to embellish your painting with glitter?

FG: “I found makeup tutorials and makeup images that I liked on Instagram and Tiktok and employed makeup artists, stylists and a fashion photographer to help me achieve the looks. Every step was planned: shoes with rhinestones on their eyelids. A long and meticulous process! ‘

PM: How do contemporary makeup subcultures fit into the beauty industry?

FG: “The rise of the makeup subculture is linked to my long-standing interest in the beauty industry and how it feeds off people’s insecurities to pursue its own financial ends.

The current trend is based on consumerism; it is consumerism as a subculture. Members of this beauty subculture seem to be using the traps of the consumer industry to transform and empower themselves. But the beauty industry has in turn realigned to use the vogue to its advantage, strategically delivering its products directly to people seemingly empowered (or perhaps trivialized) to experiment on social media, thereby eliminating the need. invest in advertising campaigns. The users (influencers) themselves become the ultimate product placement (ambassadors), proving by example the effectiveness and desirability of a company’s products. The two have become intimately linked and entangled with each other. They are like some of the nail sculptures in the exhibition: knotted and entangled in a passionate rendezvous.

Frances Goodman, Super Maleficence, 2021. Chicken yarn, fleece, fiberglass, acrylic nails, silicone, 171 × 125 × 82 in.

PM: Tell us your story with nail art.

FG: “I have been focusing on nail sculptures and refining them for a few years, convinced that a material can never really be known. The sculptures are therefore in a constant state of transformation. Forms that were once closely intertwined sometimes evolve into pernicious protuberances. In other cases, they turn into discarded ribbons, rolls or bandages that hint at digital signage with their sparkling, impermanent empty messages in constant repetition. Sayings like ‘Show me your teeth’ have the liveliness of song lyrics, but also act as a call to assert power. ‘

“Individually, each artificial nail used in nail sculptures is a rigid, temporary, disposable object. When combined, they become organic, seemingly living forms that challenge their inanimate composition. Pieces like “Incarnadine Brilliance” and “Black Crackle” take the contours of a serpentine mating game, multiple attenuated bodies entangled in an ecstatic orgy. ” MW