Main Gallery
September 4 - October 17, 2026
NEIL GOODMAN
Rivers and Valleys
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Neil Goodman is a Chicago based sculptor whose work is widely recognized for its refined engagement with form, material, and spatial rhythm. Over several decades, Goodman has developed a sculptural language grounded in bronze casting and an enduring fascination with the relationships between objects, their environments, and the human body. His sculptures balance precision and intimacy, drawing viewers into quiet encounters where shape, shadow, and surface operate as subtle meditations on perception.
Goodman’s works often emerge from everyday forms such as tools, vessels, and architectural fragments that he distills into abstractions. Through careful modeling and casting, he transforms familiar objects into contemplative structures that invite close reading. The interplay of solidity and openness, weight and lift, creates a sense of measured tension, while the patinas and surfaces carry traces of the artist’s hand. Goodman’s sculptures resist singular interpretation; instead, they unfold slowly, offering shifting meanings through movement, proximity, and light. Educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Indiana University, Goodman has built a career that interlaces studio practice with a long commitment to teaching. As a professor at the Art Academy of Chicago and later at Indiana University Northwest, he has shaped generations of artists, contributing significantly to the sculptural landscape of the region. Goodman’s work has been presented widely in museums, galleries, and public installations across the United States, including exhibitions at the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee, the Brauer Museum of Art, the Krasl Art Center, and Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago. His sculptures are represented in numerous public and private collections, and his large scale commissions can be found in civic and academic settings throughout the Midwest. |
Exhibition Catalog Available
In Goodman's sculptures, content arises from poetic titles; material decisions; iconographical themes; oblique art-historical allusions; balanced, graceful, often symmetrical compositions; and powerful visual metaphors. All serve in unison to embody an entire worldview; "Works that exhibit a high degree of harmony," McEvilley contended, "or mutual confirmation among the various levels of content tacitly model the real as integrated, whole, and rich in meaning, somewhat in the manner of the traditional masterpiece."
- excerpt from In the Manner of a Masterpiece by Sue Taylor
CLICK HERE for the full essay.
- excerpt from In the Manner of a Masterpiece by Sue Taylor
CLICK HERE for the full essay.
