Work on Monday: Paint and Pixels by Colin Goldberg

This week, Work on Monday looks to North Fork artist and Southampton native Colin Goldberg for inspiration. His “Paint and Pixels” is an excellent demonstration of the artist’s use of digital and traditional techniques to create a visually stunning canvas.

Work on Monday is a weekly look at one piece of art related to the East End, usually by a Hamptons or North Fork artist, living or dead, created in any kind of media. Join the conversation by posting your thoughts in the comments below and email suggestions for a future Work on Monday here.

Paint and Pixels
Colin Goldberg (Orient, born 1971)
Acrylic, spray enamel and pigment on canvas
60 x 40 inches, 2011

Goldberg‘s unique style is clearly evident in “Paint and Pixels,” which features both hard, digitally-produced lines and looser applications of paint by hand. In this instance, the artist uses acrylic and spray paint to create a fiery ground that almost appears astronomical or geological in nature, while a very clearly defined and monochromatic shape is central in the fore. A geometric grid of blue boxes, which could be digital or hand painted, creates even more depth sandwiched in-between.

“Paint and Pixels” is a bit more simple than many of Goldberg‘s more complex compositions, which often feel like something Willem deKooning or his hero Jackson Pollock might paint—if they lived a little longer and learned to master tools from the computer age. And it is this simplicity that displays the artist’s total control over his materials and his understanding of spacial relationships, illusion and elegant composition. The painting is clean, iconic and appears as though the viewer could literally reach into its glowing depths.

To the left, Goldberg juxtaposes complementary colors yellow and purple, adding further vibrancy to the vortex-like background. He uses no box motif on the right and leaves the red to burn bright and clear, offsetting the central wireframe shape, which twists and dances like a tornado of lines atop stark white.

Goldberg is one of the few East End artists who manages to embrace modern technology in his work and use it to his fullest advantage. Yet he still manages to present a traditional art object to be bought, hung and adored like any other, rather than viewing it on a screen or video presentation.

That said, the painter has created some lovely video art as well as his own iPhone app, “Abstract Retina Wallpapers.” Click the links to get a look at both or visit colingoldberg.com for a complete picture of this excellent artist and his many projects.

Starting this Friday, Goldberg‘s work will be on view at Southampton Town Hall through the end of March.