Meet Matthew Goodall

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Goodall.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’ve always loved to draw. I constantly doodled as a child, some of my earliest memories are of drawing dinosaurs on the back of the programs during church service. My mother signed me up for drawing and pottery classes at the Flint Institute of Arts and the instructors there really helped create a foundation to build off of.

Around fifth or sixth grade I started reading comics and that’s when I really started thinking of art as a potential career. I spent hours during and after school trying to learn how to draw like Jim Lee (I never did). My love of comic art peaked my interest in other styles and around eighth grade I had the opportunity to apprentice for David Bigelow, a local intaglio printmaker. He taught me so many things, the proper techniques, the importance of process, and what it requires to be a working artist. I worked with him for several years until he moved out of state.

I continued to work printmaking in college. I majored in art with a concentration in printmaking and painting. After graduating I was able to get into a gallery show here and there but I didn’t get much work in Michigan. I moved to Phoenix in 2003 and took a break from art as I focused on my day job. Funny enough, I started reading comic books again and my desire to create returned. I created the comic Sonic Youth with my friend Shaun Demumbrum. The book is loosely based on my daughter, about a baby with a super powered scream that keeps blowing up the house. I later created the webcomic, Space girl Molly. The book was something I created for fun and way of mixing my love of watercolor with old Buck Rogers type stories. My love of working with watercolor has shifted my interests to my current series of works.

Please tell us about your art.
I primarily paint the human figure and portraits. I work in pencil and watercolor but I will mix in other mediums as from time to time as well. My work explores compositional relationships created through combination of the human figure with color structures. By combining these forms, I strive to create layers of interest and beauty that captures the attention of the viewer. Each work looks to create visual interest through the unique shapes, expressive forms, and vibrant color contained in each composition.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
I don’t find that the role of an artist has changed with what’s going on in the world today. I’ve always felt the role of the artist is to communicate, be it through works of beauty, nature, social commentary, politically motivated, or for pure entertainment such as movies and video games… Artists have always created no matter the environment and while the topics change we use our work to express our convictions.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My art is always available to view on my Instagram account, Longdog art. I post sketches, works in progress and finished paintings on there almost every day. I have an upcoming exhibition at {9} the Gallery on October 5th. This series of work is inspired by combining my Space Girl theme with my love of the pin up and poster artists of the 60’s and 70’s. The paintings will be up for the month at the gallery and will be available on {9’s} website. {9} has several pieces from prior shows available for purchase as well.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/longdogart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1018533850
• Twitter: Twitter.com/longdogart

Image Credit:
Personal photo by Erin Goodall

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