Rachel Goodyear: Solitary Acts

9 Apr-30 Apr 2021

Overview

Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present Solitary Acts, a solo exhibition of drawings, collage and animation by British artist Rachel Goodyear. Exploring the agency of the individual, the artist navigates between divergent modes of existence – conscious and subconscious, interior and exterior, fearful and desirous. Highlighted are new works on paper alongside a new single-screen version of Limina, an animation co-commissioned by York Mediale and York Museums Trust.

The exhibition’s title, Solitary Acts, takes on a particular significance in the context of the past year, highlighting the intense interior drama expressed within the artist’s work. Goodyear’s exploration of the human experience engages with present anxieties as restrictions on daily life puncture the comfort of the recognisable, rendering it strange, and intensifying the import of mundane actions. At a moment of heightened isolation and introspection, Goodyear’s return to the solitary female figure resounds with greater intimacy and familiarity. The artist continues to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty of meaning, with recurring motifs taking on new signification, adaptive to the present. Yet Solitary Acts draws attention not only to confinement, but also to independence – the deliberate actions of the individual.