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After growing up in New Jersey, illustrator Peter Goode -- an only
child whose mother illustrates children's books and whose father is
an academic -- attended the Rhode Island School of Design in
Providence. He finished school in February 2001, and at 22, he's focusing
less on building a corporate self-image and more on producing quality
work -- pieces he says "push the boundaries of art." Altpick.com
met Peter in his studio on Providence's East Side.
When I first got out of school ... I did a lot of dark work, and most people who looked at it said, 'This is just too dark'... It was too limiting. Now I'm getting a little lighter with my palette. Mostly I've been juxtaposing realism with cartoonish features. We're in a culture where we're bombarded with imagery ... a collage culture where you have to digest all this information and put it together any which way you can. So I put my narrative out there in a way that makes sense to me. And when people see it, it makes sense to them in a completely different way. Your most recent commercial piece, "History's Unmarked Grave," quotes a line from President Bush's speech before Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, which referred to where "terrorists" belong. The piece appeared in conservative radio man Rush Limbaugh's newsletter. How do you feel about those politics? Well, anytime you place a swastika in a piece it's touchy. But I think I got enough 'fun-scary' in there ... the Limbaugh people were actually afraid that the piece would look too serious when they saw the sketch, because it was stripped down to the basic elements and looked kindof like Russian propaganda ... So I used a Halloweeny kind of palette and added a big rat by the grave. This was a hard line to walk for me because there is nothing even remotely funny about the subject -- and I'm not a Limbaugh follower by any means. Your piece, "Playing Piano Makes You Smarter" looks like a lampoon on children's books. How are you influenced by your mother's work? My mom's work is very sweet. But I have to say I'm pretty emotionally attached to it. I'll be looking at her books, and I'll notice that we draw clouds almost exactly the same way. I definitely got her work ethic -- she works 14-hour days. As for my work -- she likes it. It makes her laugh. We talk about each other's work every couple of days.
Could you discuss your contribution to the Guapo y Fuerte project -- which was based on Lucha Libre wrestling in Mexico?I submitted a piece for the show (at the San Jose-based Anno Domini gallery). It's called "Corazon de Fuego," and it's a take on how the (wrestling) originally was a way to fight enemies by summoning the spirits of animals. I also played with the idea of wearing a mask to derive power and take on a second identity. And it touches on the machismo aspect of the sport in a fun kind of way -- it says "huevos furioso," which means furious eggs ... Bascially, the wrestling is serious but it is something that doesn't make sense in the context of our culture. I'm fascinated with the phenomenon.
- Contributed by Kelly McEvers >> See more work from Peter Goode >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
So much of your work consists of large, acrylic paintings. Why didn't you pursue a more traditional painting track?
