This exhibition explores notions and taxonomy of visual paradise. The subjectivity surrounding paradise is parsed via the depictions of motifs as progressive, optimistic existential indicators: home, food, identity, métier, harmony, euphoria and so on. In an era of crisis and dissimulation, this exhibition presents a conduit to inspire the viewer to repose in a visual culture that is less pessimistic and more open to the abundance of a positive and inclusive world view. Its ideology finds parallels in Nordic notions of hygge and the wisdom and enlightenment that compels us towards the actions of contemplation, assimilation and illumination.

Its educative context surrounds the need to bring people and art together in an open neutral environment which is both positive and reflective. Its point is to counter an inward-looking culture of anxiety mediated by screen-based social media and relentless crisis-oriented propaganda news cycles.

Featuring

Nick Archer, Enrique Chagoya, Melanie Daniel, Maira Kalman, Amer Kobaslija, Andrew Lenaghan, Tayna Marcuse, Rebecca Morgan, Lamar Peterson, Simon Roberts, Orit Raff, Thamas Trosch, And Marc Yankus.

Curated By

Dick Goody

Your Very Own Paradise

September 2019

by Dick Goody

36 Pages

$20

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In the Press

The Jewish News
August 28, 2019
Ever wonder what the idea of paradise ultimately could mean for you or someone else? Dick Goody, director of the Oakland University Art Gallery, gives people a chance to view the concept from the imaginations represented visually by a group of international artists.
The Oakland Post
September 11, 2019
Say hello to “Your Very Own Paradise,” the ongoing exhibition at the Oakland University Art Gallery. Curated by Dick Goody, “Paradise” showcases the work of 13 artists of various mediums, each piece providing a different vision into what paradise can be and reflections on the very concept of what paradise is.
Detroit Art Review
October 25, 2019
Oakland University Art Gallery opened its fall exhibition schedule with Your Very Own Paradise, artwork from far and wide with oil paintings, photographs, and sculptures on September 7, 2019. Based on a curatorial premise that perception is reality, Director of the OUAG Gallery, Dick Goody, brings together thirteen artists whose ‘very own paradise’ differs significantly in expansive motifs and varying types of personal identity.