ARTIST STATEMENT

Jonathan Goldman (b. 1984)

Graduated from the Multidisciplinary Art Department at Shenkar (2012). Lives and works in Tel Aviv.

“Artistic practice for me is a process of transformation and a complete disconnection from any aim”

In my work, I combines oil painting, chemical laboratory materials, plant roots, and readymade objects with electronic equipment, LED lights and sound sensors. My work process aims to challenge conventional techniques and materials, implementing experiments that stretch the boundaries of the media in which I work. 

It is the encounter with the materials, the dynamic work process, and the transformations that occur in the work from the formulation of the concept to the finished object, that fascinate me and constitute the heart of my artistic practice.

The image of “floating mountains” first emerged in my paintings as a primordial landscape, both imaginary and real. In one of these, the image of a mountain is outlined in green and turquoise hues against a white background, whereas in another—the mountain is the bare wooden surface itself, surrounded by ocean-blue color. This reversal between image and background enables the viewer to observe the mountain as if it were either present or absent, and in so doing explore his changing mode of observation.

In my installations I use loudspeakers that emit sounds that have been recorded and processed from the environments in which i live and work. Like the visual images in my work, which are composed of both memories and random daily encounters, the sounds can also be either recordings of voices from my biography from the natural environment, or sounds created during the installation’s development.

I regard art as a testing ground for researching relationships in reality, proposing an alternative underlain by optimism and naïveté, a natural habitat for new continents.

BIOGRAPHY

Goldman is an Israel-based artist who works in a number of media, including painting, sculpture, video and installation. His works elicits thoughts about evolution, the development of life on earth and its feasibility in the future. In many respects, the laboratory has been Goldman's natural setting from early childhood due to his mother's work in biological and ecological research.

In his Shenkar graduation project he created an MDMA lab as an art object. During the work process he discovered the sound produced by the lab, and gave the drippings a visual dimension by means of light sensors. The laboratory is, for him, a space of experimentation and creation which enables him to take an active part in processes of transformation. In the lab he explores relationships between different objects which respond to one another in a controlled manner, much like natural biological systems.

Goldman exhibited his works in Israel and abroad in groups and solo exhibitions including: The Herzliya museum, The Wilfrid museum, Gordon 2 Gallery, Zemack Gallery, The artist residencies Tel Aviv,  Dana contemporary art gallery and m