Robert Goldman aka Bobby G. Exhibition

Hionas Gallery LES

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Hionas Gallery presents the self-titled solo exhibition from Robert Goldman aka Bobby G. Comprising all new portraits painted on 24 x 36 in. canvases, Goldman constructs multi-paneled composites in which his subjects—floating faces composed of dripped silver acrylic—stand isolated in their respective color fields and as part of a larger grouping; these coded and purposeful building blocks come together as geometric structures populated by blunt organic forms. The exhibition will run from October 13 to November 12, 2016.

Through his fluid application of metallic paint on black and primary fields, each of Goldman’s varied faces—as expressive as they are ambiguous—create room for our disquiet and introspection. And yet, the drips lend each facial form a chance physicality that is self-assured and in the moment; the effect is automatic, even primitive, like a theatrical gesture sans the spoken word. What’s left is a portrait of a room, constructed using color and line, with inhabitants who are as much together as they are apart.

Many of Goldman’s earlier portraits, dating back to the 1970s and 80s, employed similar metallic silver paint, a thin solution of radiator paint used to outline the figure and detail the compositional lines and creases until it could no longer adhere, eventually dripping downward with abandon. This technique lends each portrait an unmistakable electricity while also masking the subject’s emotional state, inviting posture to adopt a greater stake.

In this newest body of work, Goldman simplifies the portraiture style while assuming greater control over process, making his drips the sole tool for composing each wrinkle, line and aperture. Paradoxically, this translates to his yielding a degree of control over the resulting form. Coy or hostile, eccentric or docile, the character and emotion of the moment—drawn from individual portraits as well as the larger composites—is strictly for the viewer to decide. The singular faces can very well be indistinct depictions of a moment in time, wherein each detail is present and playful, fleeting and static, and even exaggerated at key points where a mouth hinges or an eye quivers. These are the moments in Goldman’s process that are—to a degree—left to chance. What emerges from this are serendipitous gestalts, orderly but without hierarchy, and highly expressive in a way that both predates and transcends language.

Robert Goldman aka Bobby G (b. 1948, Los Angeles) attended the University of California at Los Angeles and Santa Cruz between 1966 and 1969, and graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1974. Goldman was a member of Colab (Collaborative Projects), the NYC art collective formed in the late 1970s, which included such artists as Jane Dickson, Tom Otterness, Walter Robinson, Kiki Smith, and many others.

In 1980 Goldman co-founded ABC No Rio, a collectively run center for art and activism, located at 156 Rivington Street in the Lower East Side. There he organized the Absurdities Show in April 1981. He exhibited his work at various NYC venues throughout the 80s, including Artists Space, White Columns, the Mudd Club, P.S. 1, and Semaphore Gallery. From 1986 to 1990, he lived in Cologne, Germany, exhibiting in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. In 1990 he returned to New York City, where he currently lives and works.

Robert Goldman has exhibited at institutions including the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Castello Di Rivioli, Torino; Constantine Post, Cologne; MoMA P.S. 1, New York; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and The New Museum, New York. He has received fellowships and grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Adolf and the Esther Gottlieb Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.