Joshua Goode Image List
1.Discovery of the Venus of Aalst, acrylic resin, 31 x 9 x 9cm, 2022
2.Discovery of the Bartosaurus statuette, bronze, 5 x 2 x 5,5cm, 2022
3.Discovery of the Serperus statue, bronze, 25 x 15 x 21cm, 2019
4.Discovery of Prehistoric Lake Monster statue, bronze, 20 x 26 x 8cm, 2022
5.Discovery of the Baby Two-Headed Mastodon Mummy, plaster, wood, fake fur, paint, 120 x 244 x 20cm, 2020
6.Discovery of Winged Hero statuette, bronze, 5.5 x 5.5 x 2cm, 2022
7.Discovery of the Unicorn T-Rex, plaster and steel, 102 x 122 x 61cm, 2013
8.Discovery of Rhoman Helmet, bronze, 23 x 21 x 23cm, 2022
9.Discovery of the Venus of Margendorf, acrylic resin, 15 x 6 x 5cm, 2022
10. Discovery of the Rhoman Artemis Statue, wood, resin, paint, 173 x 69 x 33cm, 2020
11. Discovery of Rhoman Sphinx Statue, bronze, 7 x 2.5 x 4.5cm, 2022
12. Discovery of Long-Legged Mammoth Mummy, plaster, wood, fake fur, paint, 244 x 120 x 20cm, 2021
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Digging into the Past
Text. Dr. phil. Lily Fürstenow
A critical revision of mankind’s history of science and knowledge is an undertaking that is always worth it. What we know of our past reveals much about who we are. In artist Joshua Goode’s performative archaeological excavations where local populations are invited to participate even amateurs get a chance to contribute. Exploring the past as an adventure that is irrevocably connected to our present enables us to rethink our contemporary culture by comparing it to ancient mythologies, rituals and ways of their preservation for posterity. Joshua Goode’s sculptures made of bronze, stone, rezin imitating marble, his fake maps with obliterated pop-culture cartoon characters are playful citations of centuries old tradition of sculpture coming from prehistoric times merged with everyday contemporary cartoon protagonists whom we know from TV and other media. His works are inspired by motives from antiquity topped by immediately recognisable contemporary late 20th century American pop culture imagery in an attempt to bring the two together, to find the common grounds between the so called high culture and pop. Undaunting and challenging these artefacts and collectibles as the artist calls them question if there exists a divide between the high and low culture and if in the long run we can from our contemporary standpoint define which art and cultural products will stand the test of times and prove themselves to be the true works of art as the likes of Venus and Medusa accepted as art canon that the items of Joshua Goode’s making mockingly imitate.
Thus in a humorous way Joshua Goode’s artistic practice analyses our cultural values, mankind’s collective unconscious posing the inevitable dilemma of humanities involvement with nature, climate and its influence upon geographies across the globe. Although many of Goode’s performative archaeological actions refer to ancient civilisations it’s always our contemporary culture that is scrutinised. For example, how are ancient rituals remembered and re-enacted? Or to what extent are ancient methodologies relevant to contemporary European and American societies?
Natural history and art museums are engaged in academic discourse, dealing with the collection preservation and display of historical artefacts. Yet museums often come across as elitist and exclusive missing the touch with grass-root populations and public at large. Joshua Goode’s performances on the contrary are all about inclusion and participation of people of all ages, where representatives of various cultures get the chance to come into contact and experience the past as an event, a spectacle and an action. One can’t help escaping here the inevitable problem of spectacularisation of science though.
Goode’s archaeological performances and workshops in Russia during the Ural Biennial in Siberia as well as in the city of Saint Petersburg attracting big crowds evidence enormous public interest in science, knowledge production processes and possibilities of staging of the past from our contemporary perspectives.
Last but not least natural history comes under Joshua Goode’s artistic scrutiny in an explorative and critical way. His staged performative excavations of extinct animals from prehistoric times throw a new light on our contemporary fascination with the bizarre, the monstrous and the abnormal. If in ancient times monstrosity was an omen of good luck contemporary societies’ morbid interest for mutants and accounts for contemporary culture’s spiritual impoverishment and the desperate hunt for publicity and scandal.
Pop culture icons covered with the patina of ancient times, cast in stone, marble or bronze are increased in size and installed in public spaces by the artist thus acquiring a unique aura of fake authenticity simultaneously analysing the process of cultural production from the futuristic perspective.
What will remain of our culture in retrospect? Will our civilisation be remembered and how? Can we influence what stays and what ends up in the cultural dump? Symbolically presenting Texas as the site of one of the ancient lost civilisations in spite of the fact that Texas has never been an archaeological destination famous for antique relics Joshua Goode’s artistic practice evidences that our knowledge of history is contingent, often politically biased, distorted by accident and anecdotes, driven by a whole set of economic processes beyond our reach and influence. For example, what accounts for the global popularity of characters from the US cartoons like Simpsons versus those sunk in oblivion and neglect? How consumption capitalism and contemporary revenue driven media would support and promote certain cultures and pop icons at the cost of others? What is worth of researching, collecting, preserving and exhibiting in museum collections in the long run? Joshua Goode’s artistic project offers a critical, often humorous and playful approach to our understanding of the present and peering into the possibilities for the future from multiple perspectives by digging into the past.
BIOGRAPHY
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 (upcoming), Ivy Brown Gallery, New York, NY
2022 The Venus of Aalst, Galerie Van Caelenberg, Aalst, Belgium 2021 Two Headed Mammoth, Art Prospect, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Great Siberian Pyramid, special project for Ural Biennial, Tobolsk, Russia 2020 Two-Headed Mastodon Mummy, Art Tooth, Fort Worth, TX
The Fall of Rhome, Cedar Valley College, Dallas, TX 2019 Rhoman Ruins, Ivy Brown Gallery, New York, NY
Mysteries of Mammoth Ranch, Maxim Boxer Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2018 Treasures from the Rhoman Rodeo, James Freeman Gallery, London, England 2017 Origin of Myth, Ivy Brown Gallery, New York, NY
Outhouse Oracle, The MAC, Dallas, TX
Pegasus Armor, RO2 Art, Dallas, TX
2016 The Mammoth Balloon Funerary Boat, Museu Moli Paperer de Capellades, Barcelona, Spain
The Two-Headed T-Rex, Razliv Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2015 Die Einhorn T-Rex Mumie, Monchskirchein Museum, Salzwedel, Germany
The Aurolithic Armory, Borey Gallery, St Petersburg, Russia 2014 The Lost City, Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic, Zagreb, Croatia
The Great Belgian Pyramids, Kortrijk Conge, BUDA, Kortrijk, Belgium
Artifacts from the Burial Site of the Unicorn T-Rex, Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX 2013 Origin of Myth, Darke Gallery, Houston, TX
2012 Lost Gods, Darb 1718, Cairo, Egypt
Power Objects, Lasala Gallery, Zaragoza, Spain The Golden Age, Box 13, Houston, TX Nonthropology, Pageant Soloveev, Philadelphia, PA
2010 What the Thunder Said, Guerilla Arts, Dallas, TX 2009 A Warm Place, Co Lab, Austin, TX
The Plant, Shedding its Skin as Slough, NECC, Haverhill, NH 2008 The Messenger, in participation with Intrude: Art and Life 366,
Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China Beside You in Time, Art Storm, Houston, TX
Lake of Fire, The Ice House, Dallas, TX
2007 Into the Void, Forum Gallery, Brookhaven College, Dallas, TX
Selected Group and Two Person Exhibitions
2022 When time Dreams, The Company, Milan, Italy
Flyktig/Fugitive (site specific performance), Vestre Slidre, Norway
2021 Can You Hear the Silence?, Ivy Brown Gallery, New York, NY ReGrowth Riverside, Riverside Park, New York NY
2020 Tagebuch-Covid 19 Daybook, Monchskirchein Museum, Salzwedel, Germany Endfragment, Ivy Brown Gallery, New York, NY
Back to the Future, RO2 Art, Dallas, TX
Art Prospect, CEC Artslink, St. Petersburg, Russia
2019 Ho Hum, BravinLee Programs, New York, NY
Opening Party, RedD Gallery, Chania, Crete, Greece
A Group of Individuals, Ivy Brown Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Good Mourning ‘Tis of Thee, DEMO Gallery, Austin, TX Making Waves/Moving Minds, Gallery 76102, Fort Worth, TX
2015 Drava Art Biennale, Muzej Grada Koprivnice, Koprivnica, Croatia Wagen und Winnen, Galerie Haselhorst, Haselhorst, Germany Biennial-600, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX Contemporary Venice-Extended, Palazzo Flangini, Venice, Italy Southern Myths (3 person show), G Gallery, Houston, TX
Education
2005 Master of Fine Arts, Boston University, Boston, MA
2003 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
Selected Professional Activities
2011-present Chair, Dept of Fine Arts, Tarrant County College, Fort Worth, TX
2021 Artist Lecture, Ural Biennial, Museum Complex of Slovtsov, Tyumen, Russia 2020/21 Guest Critic, Mass Art, Boston, MA
2019 Artist Lecture, National Center for Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, Russia
2018 Visiting Artist, University of Texas-Arlington, Arlington, TX
2013 Archaeological Field Researcher, University of Michigan, Gault Site, Florence, TX 2012 Archaeological Field Researcher, University of Tubingen, Vogelherd Cave, Germany 2011 Visiting Artist, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Visiting Artist, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
2009 Visiting Artist, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
2008 Guest Critic, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
2007 Visiting Artist, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA 2006 Visiting Artist, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA
Guest Critic, Rosenberg Foundation Visual Arts Workshop, Dallas, TX
Residencies/Awards
2022 Artist in Residence, Flyktig/Fugitive, Vestre Slidre, Norway 2021 Artist in Residence-virtual, Belgrade, Serbia
2016 Artist in Residence, CEC Artslink, St. Petersburg, Russia 2015 Artist in Residence, Haihatus, Joutsa, Finland
2014 Artist in Residence, Hilmsen Atelier House, Hilmsen, Germany 2013 Artist in Residence, Hilmsen Atelier House, Hilmsen, Germany 2013 Artist in Residence, Darke Gallery, Houston, TX
2012 Artist in Residence, El Calotipo, Zaragoza, Spain
2011 Dozier Award, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Selected Public and Private Collections
Coleccion Solo, Madrid, Spain
St Regis, Doha, Qatar
Muzej Grada Koprivnice, Koprivnica, Croatia
Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China (now Himalayas Museum) Cabildo de La Palma, Madrid, Spain
Penang State Museum, Penang, Malaysia
Iraq National Library, Baghdad, Iraq
The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX (with The Art Foundation)
U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD
INA, Zagreb, Croatia
Al Nour Wal Amal Association, Cairo, Egypt
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Selected Publications
2021 Art Blooms Alongside Nature, Hilarie Sheets, New York Times, June 4
Ivy Brown’s Meatpacking District Gallery is a Place Where Creatives Can Play,
Meredith Mendelsohn, Introspective Magazine, Jan 31
2020 Guide to Works of Public Art Festival ‘Art Prospect’, Lilit Ter-Akopian,
Russian Glamour Magazine, June 4
2019 Making Art Fun Again!, “Rhoman Ruins” by Joshua Goode at Ivy Brown Gallery,
Linda DiGusta, Art 511 Mag, September 13
2017 Give thanks and go see these 5 essential DFW gallery exhibits in November,
Kendall Morgan, Culture Map Dallas, November 17
Reading Joshua Goode’s Childhood Mythologies in a Post Fact World,
Zachary Small, ArtSlant, March 16
Joshua Goode Makes a Case for Ordinary People in New Faux Archaeological Exhibit, Jennifer Smart, Dallas Observer, February 24
4 Fascinating Dallas Art Exhibits, Kendall Morgan, Culture Map Dallas, February 9
The A+C Top Ten: February, Listed as #3, Nancy Wozny, Arts and Culture Magazine, February 6
2016 Alternative History: Gold Chainmail Peter I can be seen in St. Petersburg, NTV evening television news segment, Russia, July 27
2015 Einhorn ist jetzt komplett, Anke Pelczarski, Jeetze-Kurier, Salzwedel Newspaper, Germany, July 3
AMoA Show to Feature Experimental Sculpture, Amarillo Globe-News, Chip Chandler, August 12
Installation lockt in die Salzweder Monchskirche, Anke Pelczarski, Jeetze-Kurier, Salzwedel Newspaper, Germany, May 27
Entista oudompi Haihatus, Esa Jokinen, Keskisuomalainen Newspaper, Finland, March 24
2014 Hrvatska radiotelevizija (Croatian Television)- Emisije na zahtjev: Pola ure kulture, 19.3.2014
Artist Joshua Goode talks about latest Discovery: a Unicorn T-Rex, Lauren Smart, Dallas Observer, February 28
2013 Video: Artist Discovers Ancient Texas Civilization…in Germany, Peter Simek, D Magazine, Front Row, August 12
Texanische Fahne weht uber Hilmsen, Anke Pelczarski, Salzwedel Volksstimme, July 31
An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street, The Center for Book Arts, New York, New York
You’ll Dig Joshua Goode’s Archaeological Show at Darke Gallery, Meredith Deliso, Houston Press, February 12
Paintings Expand Meanings of Sculpture by Whitney and Goode, Molly Glentzer, The Houston Chronicle, February 21
2012 Lost Gods Promises Historical Insight, Steven Viney, Egypt Independent, July 2
Joshua Goode, Power Objets, Heraldo de Aragon, June 26
Indentitat, Autobiografia I Autonarratives, MX Espai 1010, Spain 2010 Special “Eye” to Watch, Joshua Goode, June Mattingly,
Modern Dallas, Aug. 13
Joshua Goode’s What the Thunder Said, Jon Breazeale,
The Examiner, March 31
Video Interview-What the Thunder Said, Cindy Chaffin,
KERA Art and Seek, March 23
A Funerary Installation at Guerilla Arts Reveals New Life in the Dallas Art Scene, Peter Simek, D Magazine, Front Row, March 17
2009 Famous By Numbers at Guerilla Arts, Jon Breazeale, The Examiner, October 19
Guerilla Arts in Our Mist, Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer, October 20 Tuesday Morning Roundup, Jerome Weeks, KERA Art and Seek Blog 10x10x10 Returns, Pawagnasset Journal, David Lee, July 10
Art Scene: Recycling Concept of Beauty, Elizabeth Reese,
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, May 1
Beside you in Time, Sarah Hill, ArtsHouston, February
2008 Intrude: Art and Life 366, Volume #8, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
In Shadows, Goode examines faith in Oak Cliff, Jesse Hughey, Dallas Observer
Joshua S. Goode at Ice House, Oak Cliff Tribune, Dallas, Texas
Artist Statement
As an artist I am researching and developing mythic historical misinterpretations and manipulations in an effort to expose the malleability of our past, present and future.
My alternate history and mythology preserve memories of childhood by reimagining pop objects and imagery from my youth as iconic ancient artifacts. I created the fictitious Texas based Aurora – Rhoman civilization inspired by the achievements of major historical figures. Having studied history and worked as an archaeologist on many actual excavations, I conduct staged excavations around the world, working with the community as a performance. My constructed artifacts of the invented civilization mix fact and fiction to appropriate and distort the history and myths of each region I engage. The actual and fake objects “found” during these digs have been exhibited in Spain, Germany, Russia, Croatia, Egypt, Italy, China, Belgium, and the US, among others.
My faux research institute, The Aurora-Rhoman Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, examines the evidence of my ancient civilization at locations around the world. Inspired by amateur archeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann who discovered Troy and by past elaborate hoaxes like that of the Piltdown Man, I use my “discoveries” to manipulate and verify my invented civilization. The archaeological performance and installation begin with extensive historical research and end in an exhibit. The discoveries and claims are false and absurdly comical but based on real research.
