Artist's Statement
Diane Goodman-Daniel (b. 1971, London) is a visual artist based in Philadelphia who works in painting, drawing and digital collage. Her paintings are layered and condensed landscapes of buildings, symbols and color blocks which can be read as pictorial narratives where strawberries are bigger than houses, cats breathe fire and writing runs through the fields. Goodman-Daniel works with acrylic and found historic images on wood and canvas. She has a background in both digital imagery and fabric sculpture, each coming out of an intuitive drawing practice. Her approach includes intensive pictorial research and an interest in icons, signs and symbols. Her recent body of work, Mod Shtetl, 2021, is a series of square paintings that house a complex network of domestic spaces, shuffled between neon streets, exuberant meadows and more industrial buildings. Each one sings with the contrast of many colors, offsetting earthy tones with highlights of acid yellow and green. Windowpanes and end-gables are recurring linear motifs along with scattered natural elements such as fall leaves and fruits that seem to both fit inside the compositions and float above them. The paintings give the chance to think of the potential for energizing chaos provoked by moving house and changing lives, a celebration of finding a new home.
Jewish Demon Bowls Redux is a group of paintings inspired by Babylonian artifacts that were bestowed with the power to trap devils. Goodman-Daniel has focused on the figures that would usually be seen within the center of those magical vessels, placing her assorted versions in each others’ company, standing within an intensive environment of buildings, leaves and overflowing bottles. Despite their staring eyes and splayed fingers these mystical figures are too bright and lively to be scary, but each one brings a wealth of character to the party.