BIO
Annette Goodfriend was born and raised in Northern California. She completed her undergraduate degree at U.C. Berkeley, where she studied Genetics and Art, and she received her M.F.A. at the California College of the Arts in Oakland. Goodfriend is a winner of the International Art Competition Premio O.R.A. Italia, the Malamegi Lab 15 International Art Prize, and is one of 18 artists from 15 countries whose work was chosen for the YICCA International Art Prize. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Discovered Award, a grant and exhibition funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Sonoma, and was honored with residencies at the Morris Graves Foundation and the Headlands Center for the Arts.

Her sculpture has been exhibited in solo and group shows locally, nationally, and internationally, including the Museum of Sonoma County, Kellogg University Art Gallery, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, HDLU Pavilion in Zagreb, Croatia, and 3)5 Arte Contemporanea, a contemporary art gallery in Viterbo, Italy, among many others. Her work has been featured in exhibition catalogues, newspapers, and reviews, and is published in the books Artists of the Bay Area, Embodied Forest, and Entanglements(2).

Goodfriend lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, son, and menagerie.

STATEMENT

I create sculptures that explore the intricacies of human anatomy, from the cellular level to the limb. By casting a critical and scientific eye on the mutagenesis of corporeal form, I am telling a surreal story of biology. It is a visceral investigation of the perversity of nature, the role of science, and how our bodies both affect and are affected by the world around us.

The complex beauty of human form and function, the impact of life sciences on all living things, the processes of aging, how our bodies physically interpret the environment, and the interplay between art and science are themes that continue to weave their way through my work.

Working primarily with epoxy, resin, rubber, wax, and plaster, I let the concept and piece dictate the media. Combining traditional materials in unique ways, I cast, build, and assemble parts resulting in forms that are unexpected and occasionally disturbing.

These are surreal science projects of the imagination.