R.E.S.P.E.C.T Aretha

Original art by Todd Goodman, Acrylic Painting on 24"x24" canvas. Prints are available matted on photo paper or framed canvas. Original painting is for sale.

I began this painting the day after Aretha passed. An icon of American music and culture, it was likely impossible to live in America between the 1950's and 2018 an not know and lover her music. She was singular in her achievements and talent, no one comes close to touching her heart-moving, soul-infused vocals. Her music is timeless, a sign of true artistry. 

Aretha is my first and only black and white painting, although there is a slight gold shimmering hue to the lenses of her sunglasses. I chose to use the black and white style for this painting particularly to elicit both a feeling of stepping back in time to her early career in the 50's, an era of black and white media, an era of American history which was legally segregated between black and whites, an era that despite all of the challenges and discrimination facing Black America, despite all odds, she thrived through, succeeded in and overcame. The black and white tones, in my mind, also create a feeling of classiness and sophistication to the painting.