Larry Goode


Artist Statement:
As a book can be both open and closed, Larry Goode’s work is both extroverted and introspective. Using paper reclaimed from books published before 1960, Goode accesses the spirit of the books previous owners—in some cases appropriating hand-written inscriptions that peer into the lives of long dead readers. The books author and owners had a life; loved and had fear and hope and loss and died—as is our destiny. Goode speaks to this by using an abundance of space to achieve a thoughtful measure of melancholy. The work examines the between spaces, or time, that makes up life—the pauses where one ponders and wonders, and through the vehicle of old books, however ambiguous and mysterious they may be, considers where one is on a personal timeline. The work pulls the past to the present. Goode reinforces this amalgamation by using rusted metal, wire, ash, and other artifacts. These objects were once new, but now are a collection of memories, distilled to an emotion culled from past owners. Goode’s paintings, while retrieved from the past, are memories for the current time.

Larry Goode holds a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a MFA from Texas State University. He currently lives and works in Austin, Texas.