Meet Larry Goode

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Larry Goode again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Larry, always such a pleasure connecting with you and thank you for sharing your stories, insights and inspiring messages with our community. We’re looking forward to getting the download and what you have been up to since our last interview, but first can you briefly introduce yourself to folks who might have missed the prior conversation.
Hello, all you art mavens! Today I woke up to snow in Austin, Texas. It’s cold, and I need coffee to the extent that I feel like Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks, with his constant coffee consumption. I’m hovering over my studio heater trying to unfreeze my hands and I’m about to do what I do most days — make art.

Much of my work involves creating mixed media pieces utilizing paint, pencil, charcoal, and oil sticks on canvas or paper. Or I work in my sketchbook trying to catch new ideas for my painting. I usually paint from about 9am to 2pm after which I’m usually useless and might as well go clean my brushes.

And now a very brief description of my art journey:
1. I grew up in San Antonio
2. I attended UT Austin and received a BFA
3. I worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for many years
4. I attended Texas State University and received an MFA

I currently make art, teach design at Austin Community College, and live in Austin with my partner and two dogs.

Great, so let’s jump into an update on what you have been up to since we last spoke. What can you share with us?
My secret language.

Recently I’ve been working on a new group of paintings and utilizing many more drawn symbols and marks than in previous works creating a personal language. Two of my favorite new works incorporating these marks are, “Mating Dance” and “Tandem”, in which I use space to focus the eye on elements moving through the painting, punctuated with drawn symbols and type. Marking with the pencil and oil reminds me of events from my youth, like a scribble that I made on a textbook while daydreaming in class. With these lines and marks I try to evoke a sense of energy, indeed the elements seem to float around the canvas in perpetual motion. In “Mating Dance” two figures move through a landscape reminiscent of birds strutting and preening—but they could represent people or whatever the viewer imagines. Small drawings of eyes, a flying dog, a hand and strange circular objects populate the work adding mystery. The symbols placed around the “Mating Dance” canvas invokes a feeling of quiet contemplation that I want the viewer to respond to by creating their own narrative, co-opting my icons and making them their own. In “Tandem” a small figure oversees the movement of two elements pushing across the canvas in a perpetual spinning motion. The figure could be an observer watching the action, or someone controlling the movement and portraying a slightly ominous aura, always watching and waiting for the right moment to interject an opinion or a command. Perhaps it’s these dark times that compelled me to add this figure? I’m not sure but it did seem right.

The good old days indeed.

“Suburban Analog” is a painting that draws on my youthful memories, framing a nostalgic time before the internet when the way to get tv reception was a vaguely dangerous act of climbing on a roof to manipulate an antenna. It’s a time when kids rode their bikes in packs, stopping at various houses to commandeer friends. One memory immortalized in “Suburban Analog” is that of a friend painting “punk tv” on his small black and white television—an act of wonderful rebellion for a suburban youth. The painting represents seeking freedom from a world that demands we pay attention to a myriad of devices and screens screaming at us. It calls to a time when we had the space to be calm and think. In short, a kind of paradise.

Scribbles and marks and chunks of color are everywhere.

Moving forward I want to expand the group of symbols I use in my work and experiment with the push pull between creating the abstract and representational, finding a medium ground where they can live. My training as a graphic designer calls me to be tight and accurate, and I find it challenging to be loose and spontaneous in my painting. I am always looking for ways to trick my brain into avoiding making a work perfect and tight. Sometimes I throw paint randomly on the canvas or make a scribble mark with my eyes closed. I do love a good scribble like the ones used in “Mating Dance”; strategically placed, a scribble can balance a painting while adding an air of chaos. I hope the viewer will ask what is that mark (or icon) for? Why would Larry put that in his painting? I am also interested in the combination of color with the marks. In the painting “Looper”, I am experimenting with the combination of symbols and a vast amount of color and shapes. The shapes are purposefully crowded and contrasted by a large amount of white space offset with large looping lines. I want the viewer to look closer and discover the drawn images in the work. In the coming months I hope to experiment with more color, throwing paint and scrawling more scribbles and marks.

We have now arrived at one of our favorite parts of the interview – the lightning round. We’ll ask you a few quick questions to give us all some fun insights about you.

Favorite Movie: Too many to name, but today… Drive My Car

Favorite Book: 2666

Favorite TV Show: Game of Thrones

Favorite Band or Artist: artist – Anselm Kiefer, band – again too many to name, but today… Gang of Four, The Damned, Ryuichi Sakamoto

Sweet or Savory: Sweet

Mountains or Beach: Mountains

Favorite Sport (to watch): Soccer

Favorite Sport (to play): Soccer

Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): Soccer

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: Creative something

French Fries or Onion Rings: French Fries

Chuck Rhodes or Bobby Axelrod: neither

Favorite Cartoon growing up: Can’t remember

Favorite Childhood movie: no idea

Favorite Breakfast Food: Coffee

What are you most excited about in the coming year?
In the coming year I’m very excited about exploring new ideas in my work. Working more with layers and texture. Perhaps stretching a bit into sculpture and see where that leads me. I’m also interested in connecting with and presenting my work to more galleries and collectors.

Website: https://www.larrygoodeart.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larryduanegoode

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrygoode

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larry.goode1

Image Credits
All Images by Larry Goode