Jack Goldstein
Untitled, 1984
Acrylic on paper
31 1/2 x 47 1/2 in
80 x 120.7 cm
$ 75,000
Jack Goldstein (b. 1945) was a Canadian-born, American artist known for his pioneering manipulations of appropriated imagery. Working originally in film and audio, he is best known today for his innovative and conceptual approach to painting. Celebrated for work that demonstrated a radically new approach to popular imagery, Goldstein rose to prominence in the late 1970s as a leading figure of the Pictures Generation, exhibiting as the star artist of Metro Pictures’ program. Goldstein turned his attention to painting in the early 1980s, and he began making monumental canvases that depict spectacular occurrences from the natural world. Often sourced from science and history textbooks, Goldstein’s most acclaimed paintings feature images of violent explosions, lightning storms, and celestial phenomena. Venus Over Manhattan has organized three exhibitions of Goldstein's work: "Where is Jack Goldstein," in 2012, followed by "Oú est Jack Goldstein?" organized by Adam Lindemann at Galerie Perrotin, Paris, and "Jack Goldstein" in 2017. Holland Cotter reviewed "Where is Jack Goldstein?" in the New York Times.
Untitled (1984) is a rare and large painting on paper from Goldstein’s series depicting volcanic eruptions. Masterfully rendered with airbrushed acrylic, Untitled envisions the soft glow radiating from the crater of a recently erupted volcano. Executed with a palette of brilliant reds and deep blacks, the scene unfolds beneath the dark night sky, featuring Goldstein’s much sought-after star trails. The works comprising this series are based on photographs of volcanic sites reproduced in sources like geology text books, which Goldstein called “spectacular instants.” Goldstein enlarged these images to a scale at which their content began to approach abstraction, and subsequently rendered them onto paper with an airbrushing, assuring him almost photorealistic clarity. His method slowed down the instantaneity of photography: his work took months to render what a photograph can register in a fraction of a second.
Goldstein’s work, and his paintings in particular, renegotiated the status of authorship in contemporary art-making. He hired assistants to execute specific parts of his paintings, including Ashley Bickerton, who was Goldstein’s primary painting assistant for four years. Goldstein approached his paintings much as he’d approached his celebrated films, earlier in his career: he directed their execution in a manner similar to directing his films, at a time well before this was accepted artistic practice. Through his pioneering experiments with appropriation, Goldstein valorized choice, concept, and execution over more traditional methods of self-expression. Forging the path for artists like Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, and Sherrie Levine, Goldstein propelled appropriation to the forefront of contemporary art, ensuring its success in deconstructing elements of mass media.
Jack Goldstein:
Previous Exhibitions
Where is Jack Goldstein?
November 12, 2012 - February 2, 2013
Venus Over Manhattan, New York
Où est Jack Goldstein?
June 22 - July 27, 2013
Galerie Perrotin, Paris
Jack Goldstein
September 12 - October 21, 2017
Venus Over Manhattan, New York