Art of the week: Frances Goodman’s ‘Altered States’

Frances Goodman’s ceramic totems explore the cultural obsession with wellness quick fixes and Big Pharma.
2 mins read

Between doses of collagen, supplements for perimenopause, anti-ageing treatments, visits to integrative doctors, wellness retreats and Ozempic, the striving for good health and perfection is never-ending. And that’s before we consider the occasional Urbanol, anti-anxiety tablets, cholesterol meds and every other prescription pill we’re popping to stave off some dreadful modern malady or another. If you think those daily pill boxes from Dis-Chem are the domain of the elderly, think again …

Enter the deeply relatable Altered States pill-inspired ceramic totems created by Joburg artist Frances Goodman. It might seem a strange choice of art object to have in your home, but these oversized interpretations of tablets and capsules piled high in vivid glazes are utterly beguiling. The “pillars”, as she calls them, are a clever commentary on modern society, and they’re aesthetically pleasing too.

Left: ‘Pillar III (Comfortably Numb)’, 2024, glazed ceramics, 207cm x 49cm x 49cm. Right: ‘Pillar IV (MF)’, 2024, glazed ceramic and steel, 248cm x 66cm x 66cm.

Goodman has gained acclaim over the past two decades for her biting, humorous and visually appealing work. Her art spans a range of media (often employing traditional “women’s work” and craft techniques), and tackles themes including beauty, identity, gender and the body.

She is perhaps best known for both her canvases covered in acrylic nails that form mesmerising patterns, and her interpretations of photographs made entirely from sequins. The move into ceramics is a relatively new venture – one that began during the Covid lockdown.

“I found myself locked in my studio with all the materials I’d already worked with, and I was just so bored and frustrated by them. I needed a challenge, and started to think about what I could do that was unexpected and different from anything I’d worked with before,” Goodman says. Ceramics was the answer. She applied for, and was accepted to, a ceramics residency in the Netherlands. “It was like a three-month bootcamp,” she says.

Upon returning, she bought a kiln and spent a year and a half struggling to learn the craft. “I think that the way ceramics are made is a really interesting metaphor for a process of change, because it involves actual physical change to the material. It’s very humbling and uncertain – just like Covid.”

‘Jenga VI’, 2024, glazed ceramics, 44cm x 14cm x 14cm.

Supersized

Material aside, what of the decision to make supersized pills? Goodman was inspired by the daily act of taking medication and the prevalence of pills in everyday life, as well as a cultural obsession with self-improvement through wellness. “I guess, also, I hadn’t been terribly well. And so I was taking a handful of pills and then heading off to the studio. I think I must have looked at the pills one morning and thought: ‘Eureka!’”

Of course, she isn’t the only one with a relationship to medicine. Spot the Panado, the Viagra – and is that a Myprodol? It’s startling to realise how many of the pills Goodman has based these works on are so recognisable.

These pill-shaped pillars make a not-so-subtle statement about our relationship with Big Pharma (and its power). Goodman also feels that while pills are often marketed as solutions for various problems, they’re also a metaphor for the fragile and precarious nature of life itself, where one wrong step can lead to disaster – like a Jenga tower collapsing. Not dissimilar to these pill pillars, right?

The artworks also allude to the idea of people seeking “quick fixes” rather than addressing deeper, long-term issues. “Plus, there’s a certain age group and financial group that seems to be looking for all kinds of alternative wellness solutions – a release, an escape, a way of getting out of your mind,” Goodman adds.

“The glossy, alluring surface of the pills invites the viewer in, much like how society is drawn to the idea of wellness or quick fixes, but there is often something more sinister underneath,” Goodman concludes.

Her pills might be laden with questions and critiques of modern society, but at least you don’t need a prescription to get your hands on them.

Goodman is represented by Smac Gallery.

Top image: ‘Pilletjies III’, 2024, glazed ceramics, 102cm x 49cm x 49cm

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Sarah Buitendach

With a sharp eye for design, Sarah has an unparalleled sense of shifting cultural, artistic and lifestyle sensibilities. As the former editor of Wanted magazine, founding editor of the Sunday Times Home Weekly, and many years in magazines, she is the heartbeat of Currency’s pleasure arm.

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