Brent Godfrey began his painting career as an abstractionist, melding colors, textured brushstrokes and sheer compositional intention into one of the most arresting bodies of work in the Salt Lake City area. In the past several years, however, his artistic eye has been turning toward representational subject matter, while maintaining his assertive manner with the brush, palette knife and other instruments to give his subjects a bit of drip-painting style similar to Francis Bacon.
Godfrey’s painting technique renders these subjects as though they have weathered some kind of ordeal, or are enduring a difficult experience just to persist on the canvas. His blend of subject matter—from private portraiture to cultural and commercial icons—has allowed him to examine the connections between personal and private, and individual and socially constructed identities. And it’s a remarkably ambitious attempt to arrive at a kind of understanding of the social environment in which we live. (Brian Staker)
Date: Oct 8, 2011
Time:
Phone: 801-583-4800
Address: 1321 S. 2100 East, Salt Lake City, 84108
Where: A Gallery
