MG by Marjorie Goodson and Andreea Radutoiu
To call this a book of photographs would be an understatement bordering on a lie. It would be like calling Gehry’s Guggenhiem Bilbao Museum merely a building. To use the ubiquitous text exclamation OMG! works for its statement of surprise and in its play on the book title, which is the initials of Marjorie Goodson, the force-of-nature behind and in front of this work.
A book of photos? Check
A book on dance? Check.
A book on art? Check
A book on fashion? Check.
A book on hair and makeup? Check.
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But so much more. Many of the photographs exude movement and power as Ms. Goodson defies both convention and gravity in how she positions her sculpted body in ways most mortals can only appreciate. Some of the photos evoke scenes from Hollywood classics; a series on rocks brings to mind a platinum-plated Goldfinger, with Ms. Goodson as both victim and perpetrator. Another series seems inspired by Mad Max. Still others are film noir, with us as the not-so-innocent voyeur. And many are simply celebrations of fashion, beauty, and body, an over-the-top presentation of life as it might want to be.
As provocative and flamboyant as many of the photos appear, there is a subtlety behind them, a thoughtful, almost vulnerable presentation never sacrificing the art for the artist.
The pointillist autobiographical introduction is spare and the picture of her in real life – sans costumes and makeup — is of a woman beautiful and demur, nothing like the fierce avatar she reveals in the book. When one reads the postscript, the backstory comes together.
Ms. Goodson is 54 years old and she personifies the cliché that 50 is the new 30 (except in her case it’s more like 25). And the defiance which seems to come through some of her photos? It’s as if she is speaking for all of us of a certain age.
“Hey, Millennials, you want to kick us Baby Boomers to the curb? You have to catch us first.”
OMG!
You can pre-order MG now.
All images from MG by Marjorie Goodson and Andreea Radutoiu.