Feb. 18, 2022 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The latest exhibit in Grand Rapids Community College’s Paul Collins Art Gallery explores the idea of memory through an award-winning artist’s work over more than a decade.
“Now and Then,” featuring the work of Damian Goidich, runs through March 1 in the gallery, on the fourth floor of Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall, 143 Bostwick Ave. NE.
Goidich, who has taught drawing at GRCC, won a Juror Award in the 2018 West Michigan Regional Arts Competition. He was awarded an art residency in Maine in 2013 and 2014, and received the Ferris State University MFA Excellence in Studio Art Purchase Award in 2013. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ferris State University’s Kendall College of Art and Design, where he served as an adjunct instructor.
His GRCC exhibit is split between “Then,” covering his work from 2010 to 2014, and “Now,” from 2015 to the present.
“My older artwork is based on memory and the act of remembering,” he said. “Memories are an integral part of our inner monolog, and how we interpret these memories continues to influence and partially define who we are in the present.”
The more recent pieces echo the themes of memory and perception but are more fragmented and abstract.
“In my mind, I see the past in a very particular way – like peering through a fog or a wet window,” Goidich said. “It’s there in my consciousness, but indistinct, hard to see clearly. Charcoal proved to be the most effective material to get what I was looking for as I attempted to blur, fragment, reveal and obscure the abstract shapes and shadows that I see within my memories.”
The Collins Art Gallery has free admission and is open 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.