an artists drawing. a strange bald figure sits with a cone attached to their face. black and white

Rachel Goodyear, Unable to stop....(2008) Detail from series. Print from original drawing.

Rachel Goodyear

Year: 2006
Medium: Limited edition prints from original drawings
Dimensions: variable
Brief biography: b. Oldham, UK, lives and works in Salford/Manchester UK
Acquired: 2012/13

Known for her dark humor, broadly monochromatic palettes, and fantastical motifs— which include blood, animals, masks, and carcasses— Rachel Goodyear describes her drawings as an exploration of “desire, fear, greed, envy, and deceit.” Of her practice she observes, “[My drawings of animals] are more human than most, while the people that I draw are starting to become more feral as their social boundaries begin to drop away.” Though Goodyear usually works in small formats, she has recently begun to work on a larger scale, and also produces porcelain sculptures. She counts the filmmaker David Lynch among her major influences.
(source: Islington Mill)

UNABLE TO STOP BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO CLOSE TO THE LINE is a collection of drawings commissioned by LIME. It is a reflection of a 6 month period of chemotherapy where the artist and patient are one and the same. This was an unusual project in that as a patient I was experiencing the illness and treatment, and as an artist I was standing outside of myself and observing what was happening. This dual existence is expanded in this text by the interruptions of extracts from my diaries shown in italics. These texts drifting off at a tangent reflect my regular escapes into a visual world of fiction throughout the whole experience.
(source & full artists’ statement on Rachel Goodyear website).

Rachel is a long-term studio holder at Salford studios Islington Mill, and recently became a Board member and co-Director. She is represented by Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

View the full set of works: Unable to Stop Because They Were Too Close To The Line
Main site: rachelgoodyear.com