23 June — 29 July 2017

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Betts Project is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of works by Australian artist and architect Richard Goodwin. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK.

‘Stumbling away from pure modernism, post-modernism and late modernism, we crouch in the shadows of a global built environment, ruminating, via the scrutiny of the Drone, about the huge armature of leftover or partially destroyed architecture. In an age where the Situationist vision of “Unitary Urbanism”, already modelled virtually by the internet, now gets closer, functionalism is made redundant as we adapt and re-use to survive. Irresolution and Quantum Physics are the new aesthetics of complexity. Architecture is after all a state of becoming, a coral reef generated from the inside out.’ –Richard Goodwin, 2017

Spanning work from the 1990s to 2017, the exhibition shows Goodwin’s intensive research in ‘Porosity’, which describes for him, the urban propositions of parasitic architecture that can expand the uses of public space and ‘open up’ the city. 

Richard Goodwin evolved from architect to sculptor before developing a unique role as a sculptural installation artist on buildings and public projects. In this new role he has opened up new dimensions in the planning of urban spaces and in the way architecture interacts with its physical and cultural context.

Goodwin’s work proposes the acceptance of irresolution as a characteristic architectural aesthetic, by challenging the barriers between sculpture and architecture,. The core focus of his research has been the creation of ‘porosity’, a term that he interprets as the barrier-free connection between the public and private domains that resists the forceful contemporary tendencies to sanitise, compartmentalize and eventually alienate public space. In this way, Goodwin aims to return character to our cities and make them stimulating places where people congregate with a genuine sense of community.

Richard Goodwin was born in Sydney in 1953, where he continues to live and work. He is the recipient of many awards, including The Wynne Prize for 2011, Art Gallery of New South Wales, The Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award, the Sydney Water Prize for Sculpture By The Sea. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions across Australia and internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2013); Gwangju Design Biennale, South Korea and Today Modern Museum, Beijing (2011). Goodwin has been selected to exhibit at the Australian Pavilion for the 2008, 2010 and 2012 Venice Architecture Biennales. 

Goodwin’s work resides in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Art Gallery of NSW; National Gallery of Victoria; Nuremberg City Museum, Germany; Allen, Allen & Hemsley, Sydney; Ararat Gallery; Artbank, Sydney; Costain Collection, Melbourne; Darwin Institute of Technology; Hyatt Hotel, Melbourne; Mildura Arts Centre; Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane; Orange Regional Gallery; Wollongong City Gallery; Auckland City Gallery, New Zealand; New England Regional Art Museum, Benalla Regional Gallery, National War Museum, Canberra.

On the occasion of Richard Goodwin’s exhibition at Betts Project, N EDITIONS has published an artist book edited by David Burns with photography by Anthony Browell. The book launch will be held at the AA bookshop on 5 July. Copies of the book will be available for sale on the day of the preview.