Paul Goodnight

Paul Goodnight, born 1946 in Chicago, discovered he had the gift of art at an early age. Goodnight was raised in Boston and Connecticut, and after serving a stint in the Army during the Vietnam War, he returned to Boston where he decided to professionally pursue art as a career; creating in acrylic, pastels and other media.

Goodnight received his formal education at Roxbury Community College and Vesper George School of Art in Boston. He received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 1975, and the college bestowed him an honorable MFA in 1987, recognizing his dedicated work in the arts. Paul has received numerous honors and awards over the years, including the U.S. Sports Academy Artist of the Year in 1996. His work is held in scores of private & institutional collections, domestic and abroad, including The Smithsonian Institute and Hampton University Museum.

Since 1984, Mr. Goodnight’s work has gained acclaim with exhibitions in the Museum of Fine Art, Boston and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York. He was commissioned to design the stained glass window for the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta; the official commemorative poster for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics; the 1998 World Cup Soccer poster and the triathlon triptych for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games commemorative art. Paul is currently creating a mixed media painting entitled “The Network” for the 2010 South African World Cup. He is one of five U.S. artists whose works will comprise the international group show that will travel first in the U.S. and then on to South Africa to commemorate the World Cup events.

Mr. Goodnight’s work has appeared on the sets of The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, ER and The Fresh Prince of Belair to name a few. His work has also been featured in publications such as Ebony, Architectural Digest, Essence, People, Boston Globe and Décor. Bishop Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou and Samuel L. Jackson are among the many notables who collect Mr. Goodnight’s work. Mr. Goodnight continues to draw his inspiration from his life of world wide travels that include extensive study in Africa, Russia, China, Haiti, Nicaragua and Brazil.

“I would like to be a skilled and consummate draftsman. I try to use a collection of sensuous colors, often revealing mysterious hidden forms. I would love to convey the ability to see between the figures, melding and infusing them into an environment of endless nuances where abstraction and representational images are comfortable in the same space and where passion and humanity resonate. Once I learn to do this well, I will be obligated to pass this on, just as this information has been based on to me. Thank God for our masters!

“I also try to offer the rich evidence of love in the composition of ordinary Black people whom I've witnessed in my travels around the world. Men, women and children who are familiar, intimate and engaging have stories written all over them, waiting to be told. My goal is to expose these stories to delight the eye and to satisfy the spirit -- in short, to make them live.” Paul T. Goodnight, Imagemaker, Boston, MA, 2008