Liberty's

Original art by Todd Goodman, Acrylic Painting on 48"x36" canvas,  SOLD. Prints are available as Gallery Wrapped Canvas and Posters.

"Liberty's" is the second installment in my painting series on the subject of climate change and rising sea levels. As a surfer, I've always been curious about how surf breaks get named, and I've always dreamed about discovering a new break so that I could name it. I doubt I'll ever have that satisfaction, so I am excited about the opportunity to invent my own here in this series. Born and raised in New York State, I have spent a tremendous amount of time in New York City, where many of my family members and friends live and work, so this piece is very personal to me. 

My vision as an artist is rooted deeply in my social/political world view, and this series represents a return to my core motivations and passions, particularly advocating for conscious acceptance and action to address climate change. I hope that this series will provoke an awareness and appreciation for the state of our natural world, and the role that humans play in shaping our environment by way of how we live and interact with nature. There will always be some element in the painting to draw attention to what I consider the biggest culprit to exacerbate climate change, the fossil fuel industry. Hence the oil tanker named Exxploit. There is also a not so subtle message being portrayed by the fact that Lady Liberty has been blinded by the rising sea.

My focus in this series is to highlight costal cities and iconic landscapes and scenery of major costal cities, and to interpret how these places may be changed physically by rising sea levels. I recognize the duality of this subject, on the one hand I am depicting the destruction of civilization, while on the other hand I recognize that life is a cycle, life will continue, and life and nature will still be beautiful and enjoyable for humanity even if we are unable to get our acts together to mitigate our pressing climate problems.