Open, by artist Dryden Goodwin is a composite portrait of a diverse urban community connected to, working near and living alongside the focal landmark building of Carnegie’s Battle Library in Reading.
As well as capturing gem-like glimpses of the personal and everyday, Goodwin’s 26 exquisitely rendered drawings of individuals, accompanied by animated video and soundtrack vignettes, contain a multitude of thoughts and atmospheres that resonate beyond the local.
Including encounters with a publican, minister, tattoo artist, teacher, charity worker, newborn baby, supermarket assistant, mother and barber, Goodwin features people at work, at play, with family, at school and at prayer. Like an epic novel, Open presents the lifeblood of an ever evolving community with its intertwining narratives of endeavour, relationships, desires, spirituality, politics and humour.
The 26 small and intense, framed portraits find a permanent home on the walls alongside the library’s book collection. Like books the drawings act as time capsules, becoming reanimated when the films are watched online.
In addition, each drawing has been reproduced to scale as bookmarks that will be given to library users, placed inside the books they borrow, dispersing the drawings back into the surrounding streets and homes.
Commissioned by Artists in the City and Reading Borough Council
Funded by Tesco Stores Limited
Dryden Goodwin would like to thank all those people who participated in the project, with special thanks to Marjorie McClure, Jeni Walwin, Imran Perretta, Cog Design and Jo Cole.
www.drydengoodwin.com
