ABOUT:
Spanning a career of nearly 60 years, Brenda Goodman is regarded by both peers and developing artists as a “painter’s painter” for her steadfast insistence on staying true to her vision as well as for her inventive handling of her medium. Painting, for Goodman, is the creation of a physical and emotional space that is not only a tangible surface but also an expression of inchoate emotions, personal subjectivities, and a deep understanding of the human condition.

Goodman was born in 1943 in Detroit, MI. She received her BFA from the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, from which she also received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts in 2017. In 2015, a 50-year retrospective was presented at the Center for Creative Studies and Paul Kotula Projects. That same year, her work was included in the American Academy of Arts and Letters annual invitational, where she received the Award in Art.

Recent solo exhibitions were presented at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York, NY; Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY; The Landing Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY; and Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY. Her work was featured in recent group exhibitions: A Field of Bloom and Hum, The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2025); Side Lined, PPOW, New York, NY (2025); Come a Little Closer, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Can You See Me Now, Ryan Lee, New York, NY (2023); Feminism and the Legacy of Surrealism, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY (2022); and Kick Ass Painting: New York Women, Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2020).

Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA; Detroit Institute of Arts, MI; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; The Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; and Birmingham Museum of Art, AL. Her work was included in the 1979 Whitney Biennial, and she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Goodman is represented by Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York, NY. She lives and works in Pine Hill, NY.