Jack Goldstein

Curated by Polly Staple

Tuesday 18 September 2001

A one-night screening of Jack Goldstein films; a selection of ten short 16mm films from the period 1974-1978, including The Jump, MGM and Some Butterflies. Jack Goldstein (b. Montreal, 1945, lives in Los Angeles) has worked with sculpture, performance, film, sound, photography and painting. A contemporary of artists David Lamales, Allen Ruppersberg, Michael Asher and John Baldessari, his films from the 70s are highly influential investigations of durational performance, minimalist construction and the conventions of Hollywood movie making. The films will be shown at Cubitt according to Goldstein’s specific installation design – a rectangular white projection space set within a red painted wall; emphasising the flickering, hallucinatory effect of the slight, performative actions.

`A 16mm film is projected onto a white rectangle in the centre of a garishly painted red wall. At first the image is black, then a figure appears, assembled from abstract, luminous red, jewel-like details. It performs a somersault and disappears. A new figure emerges, traces the same leap in another direction, and then it too dissolves. The red crystals that outline the body fly apart and fade into a swath of light. This scene lasts for 16 seconds. The Jump (1978) is a vision of inane euphoria and innocent abandon, illuminated by a brief flare of decadence. It’s easy to forget how skillfull the artist’s manipulations are: like a self-propelled Romantic archetype, the film seems to animate itself.’ – Anke Kempkes, Frieze 2000.

Jack Goldstein’s recent solo exhibitions include: Artists Space, New York; 1301PE, Los Angeles (both 2001); Galerie Buchholz, Köln (2000). A selection of Goldstein’s Portfolio of Performances (1976-1985) were included in the recent exhibition ‘Sound and Vision’, ICA, London (July, 2001).

A Cubitt event in collaboration with Afterall and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln.

Issue 4 of Afterall – journal of art, context and enquiry (July 2001) features the artists Jack Goldstein, Lily van der Stokker, Thomas Struth, Cerith Wyn Evans and Frances Stark; their work reflects in different ways on the term `wonder’ as both a miraculous phenomenon and speculative endeavour. Afterall is published biannually by Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design; copies will be available on the night. For further information about Afterall please contact Emily Pethick: +44 (0)20 7514 8173, [email protected]