Tom Goldenberg
"I painted landscapes for a long time that were pretty literal. Then I realized there is much more to a landscape than painting trees and sky. There is the history of the earth, the passage of time, the layers of geologic activity - that is when I began painting abstract paintings.
"There was a walnut tree on my property and the walnuts were falling and covering the ground. So I raked up the walnuts, dropped a canvas on top, and then drove my tractor over the whole thing. The walnuts stained the canvas and I painted on top of that."
A painting is a singular entity whose character is inextricable from its material means. A picture describes and describes only. A painting describes and—how does one put it, exactly? A painting is.
"Goldenberg knows that influence is contrary and fluid. As a painter, he thrives on its surprising pliability. Art and nature achieve a synthesis that is simultaneously hard-won and effortless, long sought after, and utterly organic. Such ease and inevitability are usually the marks of an artist at the height of his powers—and so it is with Goldenberg’s remarkable paintings."
Mario Naves is a painter, teacher, and writer who …
"I painted landscapes for a long time that were pretty literal. Then I realized there is much more to a landscape than painting trees and sky. There is the history of the earth, the passage of time, the layers of geologic activity - that is when I began painting abstract paintings.
"There was a walnut tree on my property and the walnuts were falling and covering the ground. So I raked up the walnuts, dropped a canvas on top, and then drove my tractor over the whole thing. The walnuts stained the canvas and I painted on top of that."
A painting is a singular entity whose character is inextricable from its material means. A picture describes and describes only. A painting describes and—how does one put it, exactly? A painting is.
"Goldenberg knows that influence is contrary and fluid. As a painter, he thrives on its surprising pliability. Art and nature achieve a synthesis that is simultaneously hard-won and effortless, long sought after, and utterly organic. Such ease and inevitability are usually the marks of an artist at the height of his powers—and so it is with Goldenberg’s remarkable paintings."
Mario Naves is a painter, teacher, and writer who lives in New York City
