Gary Goodman paints images and writes with a resounding directness - the figure at the forefront, unbothered by artistic self-consciousness, ego and politeness. Simply saying "hello" to the world as it passes him by. This produces work of intense human understanding that belongs to a lineage of artists that include Jean Dubuffet, Vincent van Gogh, EL Kirchner and Edvard Munch - and echoes the profound spiritual beauty and sensitivity of Knut Hamsun, Ingmar Bergman and Arvo Pärt.Norbert Lynton said of Gary’s work “Goodman’s paintings have coherence, beauty, vividness: they are much more than jottings from his personal diary, though that would be a lot: they are intelligently worked art, in which impulse, not to mention the instinctual talent of the true painter, is mitigated by self-awareness, self-criticism.” “Primitive? Crude? I marvel at his lyricism and delicacy.”He continues "People are disconcerted by the way Gary Goodman paints. They are drawn to the colour and the activity of the brush, in short to his lively painting, and then they are perplexed, just as I was when I first saw his work." [Full text available]