I’ve been told I’m a good listener. So people tend to tell me things. Secret stuff that maybe no one else knows. We all have that friend, the one everyone confides in and is completely confident their secrets will be taken to the grave. In her Other People’s Secrets series, Portland artist Dorothy Goode has found a way to get those piled up secrets out, without ever truly spilling a single one.
No. 3, Egg tempera and sumi ink on panel, 32×48
No. 16, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32 x48
The artist began each panel by dipping her fingers into sumi ink, then sprawling secrets over the surface of each panel, first her own and then the confidences of others came leaking out. The letters and forms are mostly illegible, making sure that each secret is still safely hidden.
No. 1, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32×48
Once the secrets are spilled, the artist then covers them with colorful, scrawling abstract gestures in paint. In that final step, I see an analogy to the way we live with our own well kept mysteries– we hide them in plain sight, often burying them just beneath the brightly colored surface.
No. 8, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32×48
No. 13, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32×48
To see more of Dorothy Goode’s work, please visit her website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
