07 | 08
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isbn-13: 978-0-9791843-5-2 isbn-10: 0-9791843-5-5
phyllis goldberg
two thousand
phyllis goldberg experiments in art c u e art foundation s e p t e m b e r 6 – o c t o b e r 13, 2007
cu r at e d b y
jack pierson
[foreword] We are honored to present this exhibition generously curated by Jack Pierson. For the CUE solo exhibition series, Mr. Pierson has chosen Phyllis Goldberg, an artist living and working in New York. Ms. Goldberg has long been recognized by her peers as having forged a unique artistic voice. Pierson’s appreciation of Goldberg’s work demonstrates just such admiration. CUE is pleased to recognize that this is Ms. Goldberg’s first solo exhibition in New York. Mr. Pierson and we, together, celebrate this effort and wish her a future of fulfillment and success.
phyllis goldberg [artist’s statement]
experiments in art 1997 to 2007
ten years ago my work had coalesced into
flat shapes that ambiguously referred to both natural and constructed forms. My painting had been questioning the making of art as a carrier of emotion and meaning. To investigate this, I reformulated earlier paintings made in gestural and intuitive modes, then translated elements of these images into simplified flat shapes. The use of this systematic process aided me in forging a dialogue between painterly and constructive visual language. My intention was to achieve a “presence� in the work, and to this end I would manipulate selected shapes by enlarging them, eliminating extraneous detail and reducing modulated color to flat planes. My goal was to monumentalize forms into something which ambiguously depicted nature without necessarily showing it. These mute, quietistic flat shapes in the paintings hovered at the edge of stasis. For the past few years my experiments have led me to take these quiet shapes from the darkroom and into the computer. Thus the shapes
became energized. I found the results to have a jittery and nervous edge, an exciting shift in my work. It is as though the quiet forms have been placed in a centrifuge, thereby losing their central gravity as well as their gravitas.
jack pierson [curator’s statement] phyllis goldberg’s work vibrates in a
zone where intellect intersects with spirit. The artist as alchemist is admittedly an overused trope, nonetheless I assert it again here to describe this woman’s practice. In 1967, Ms. Goldberg graduated from Brooklyn College with a baccalaureate in art history. Twenty one years later a full coming of age (her own, or her son’s?) she took up studies at The Art Students League with renown American abstract painter Leo Manso. Since then she has consistently produced fascinating series of works that speak to us of the endless possibilities of form, beauty and change. One has the urge to include “chance” in this list although her early work, while intuitive, is clearly devoted to precision. While making these series, Ms. Goldberg has undertaken the task of becoming proficient in all the media required for their making; photography, ceramics, as well as recent exploration of computer graphics. Phyllis introduced herself to me nearly five years ago in the lobby of the apartment building where we both live in Greenwich Village. Our building was home to so many contemporary artists at that time, Nan Goldin, Sean Landers, and Chivas
Clem among them. I loved her presence without a sense of urgency. Having discovered I was a fellow artist, she asked for my input on a residency application (she has been awarded over 16 grants and arts fellowships since 1994). I was of course happy to oblige and delighted to find that her work at that moment was, and this was five years ago friends, being made entirely by using the computer as a studio. This CUE Art Foundation exhibition has given me the unique privilege of examining Ms. Goldberg’s evolution as an artist over the last two decades. I am astonished with my findings and eager to share the results with you here.
Untitled, 1998 Oil on canvas, 12 works, 18˝ x 24˝ each
Untitled, 2006 Acrylic over digital print on canvas, 19˝ x 13˝
Untitled, 2006 Acrylic over digital print on canvas 13˝ x 19˝
Untitled, 2000 Oil on canvas, 22 works, 10˝ x 10˝ each
Untitled [detail], 2000 Oil on canvas, 10˝ x 10˝
Untitled, 2000 Oil on canvas, 30 works, 12˝ x 12˝ each
Untitled [detail], 2000 Oil on canvas, 12˝ x 12˝
Untitled, 2003 Photograph, 5˝ x 3½˝
Untitled, 2003 Photograph, 5˝ x 3½˝
O.O.–2, 2001 Photograph with archival tape, 8˝ x 10˝
O.O.–3, 2001 Photograph with archival tape, 10˝ x 8˝
O.O.–4, 2001 Photograph with archival tape, 10˝ x 8˝
[biographies]
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1927, phyllis goldberg now works and lives in New York City. She began to make art some years after receiving a BA in art history from Brooklyn College in 1967. Her work has been exhibited in solo shows in Vermont and in numerous group shows in New York City. She was a fellow at the following residencies: Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY; the Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL; the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA; and the Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY. She received grants in 2000 and 2003 from the Pollack-Krasner Foundation and in 1999 she was awarded a studio for one year in lower Manhattan by The Space Program of The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation. The exhibition at CUE Art Foundation marks Goldberg’s first solo exhibition in New York.
Bleeker St. Ladies, 2007 Photo collage, 10˝ x 8˝
jack pierson makes photographs, word sculp-
tures, installations, drawings, and artist’s books that explore the emotional undercurrent of everyday life, from the intimacy of romantic attachment to the distant idolizing of others. Many works register as melancholic, their beauty speaking to nostalgia for dreams left unfulfilled. Using friends as models, Pierson has consistently engaged star culture throughout his work, whether the stars are from the screen, stage, or art world. Refusing cynicism or irony, Pierson relates to his viewers by seeming to admit his own attraction to the fantasy life depicted in his artworks. He has had recent solo exhibitions at Cheim & Read, New York, NY; Alison Jacques Gallery, London and Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA. Pierson is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Whitney Museum of American Art; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA.
CUE Art Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization, is dedicated to providing a comprehensive creative forum for contemporary art by supporting underrecognized artists via a multi-faceted mission spanning the realms of gallery exhibitions, public programming, professional development programs and arts-in-education. The Foundation was established in June of 2002 with the aim of providing educational programs for young artists and aspiring art professionals in New York and from around the country. These programs draw on the unique community of artists, critics, and educators brought together by the Found-ation’s season of exhibitions, public lectures, workshops, and its studio residency program: all are designed to be of lasting practical benefit to aspiring and under-recognized artists. The entire CUE identity is characterized by artistic quality, independent judgment and the discovery of genuine talent, and provides longterm benefits both for creative individuals associated with CUE and the larger art marketplace. Located in New York’s Chelsea gallery district, CUE’s 4,500 square feet of gallery, studio, and office space serves as the nexus for educational programs and exhibitions conducted by CUE.
Board of Directors Gregory Amenoff Theodore S. Berger Patricia Caesar Thomas G. Devine Thomas K.Y. Hsu Brian D. Starer Advisory Council Gregory Amenoff Bill Berkson William Corbett Michelle Grabner Deborah Kass Kris Kuramitsu Jonathan Lethem Lari Pittman Irving Sandler Staff Executive Director Jeremy Adams Director of Development Bryan Markovitz Programs Director Beatrice Wolert-Weese
Cover: O.O.–1 [detail], 2001 Photograph with archival tape, 10˝ x 8˝
Programs Assistant Ryan White
All artwork © Phyllis Goldberg Catalog design by typeslowly
Development Assistant Talia Spetter
Printed by mar+x myles, inc. using 100% wind generated power on FSC certified paper
Preparator Drew Lichtenstein
isbn-13: 978-0-9791843-5-2 isbn-10: 0-9791843-5-5