Charles Goldman


Artists Space Web (space) Artist
December 1999


All of the Walls of My Parents' House (Stacked), 1996 
Wood and drywall
50' x 8' x 66"
2 x 4 x 8 x, 1997 
Mixed media
Installation with projection
Scrapwood (Chicago), 1998 
Wood
Installation; dimensions variable
Downtown Cloister, 1999 
Mixed media
20' diameter x 10'

click the images above to view artist's work

I once thought that agoraphobia was simply the fear of leaving one's house, fear of the outside, of other people. Yet now I know that it has to do with much more than that. It is the fear of wide open spaces and of leaving the home in a larger sense, of space becoming vast and amorphous. Agoraphobia pertains to the self, the definition of self, and the objects that we surround ourselves with in order to create such a definition. The fear is about the loss of the self, not of the spaces. The definition of an agoraphobic became more complex as I flirted with the idea of actually being one. The boundaries which we set for ourselves make us secure with the knowledge of who we are and who we are not. The phobia lies within the loss of these boundaries and my interest lies within the space between one boundary and the next, the self fluctuating between the two. The opposite of agoraphobia is commly thought to be claustrophobia but, ultimately, the fear is the same. One is the loss of the self via dissipation into the vast and unfriendly world and the other is loss via constriction. One is implosion and the other, explosion. Both phobias represent a narcissistic relationship to space. The personal claim on space is threatened as the security that this space brings is either removed or invaded. Significant spaces and the self become one.

These concepts are the basis for my interest in the spaces we inhabit, the places in which we live, both publicly and privately, and their effects upon the inhabitant. I am interested in a in a discourse of depth. An intense investigation of, or fixation on the place that one is surrounded by can lead either to an increased understanding or confusion concerning this place, this space and, in turn, oneself. As I position myself somewhere in their midst the boundaries between the public and the private, the general and the specific, the grand and the mundane, the inside and the outside and the physical and the mental become blurred. These potent blurs, consequently, engender confession and subject themselves to reexamination in a never ending spiral motion toward comprehension.

Ultimately, through the use of my body and its experience of space, I wish to investigate the possibilities of a new, personal belief system, one that is not the Judaism I grew up with, the Christianity that surrounds me or the Buddhism that entices but one that is both all and none of these, one that is completely mine. Currently bankrupt notions of religious salvation position my work somewhere adrift, searching for a truth, a commonality, a standard. The flip-flopping that takes place in religious practices between the idea of an afterlife as a real, concrete place and as an ideal, a dream, is important to me and helps me to solidify certain lofty notions into very banal objects, consequently making banal the lofty notions. My home, my head, my image in the mirror provide me with a standard for which to constantly strive, in which to believe and to emulate. Narcissism operates outside of myself, offering proof of my own existence. This standard provides that crucial point where the general collapses and the specific opens up. What is mine is definitely mine but could also be yours. The funnelling from myself into the greater population and back again is an essential function of the work.providing both an entrance and a site. Religious practices, like my work, lay strict boundaries but, in actuality, hold no promises.

The point I am interested in occupying is that fulcrum between the specific and the general, the psychological and the social. By documenting myself, my everyday experiences, my sexuality, my own image and my immediate surroundings, no matter how mundane or extraordinary, my intent is to provide playful, curious investigation and a rough mapping of not only my immediate, everyday situation but also that of a larger society.

cgoldm@earthlink.net


Charles Goldman

Biographical Note
Born in San Francisco, CA, 1966

Education
M.F.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, Studio Arts,1996
B. A., University of California at Santa Cruz, American Studies and Studio Arts,1990 ננ

Selected Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
2000 Untitled, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY
1999 "Far From The Soil (with Gay Outlaw)", Rare, New York, NY
1998 "Scrapwood (New York City)", De Chiara/ Stewart, New York, NY
"Scrapwood (Chicago)", The Chicago Project Room, Chicago, IL
1997 "2 x 4 x 8 x"(curated by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson), Correct C.E., New York, NY
Untitled (Conversation), A.R.T. Inc., New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
1999 "Making Change" (curated by Deborah Gar Reichman), The Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
"If You Build It, They Will Come" (curated by Jason Middlebrook), Ramapo College of New Jersey, New Berrie Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Mahwah, NJ
"Survivalist" (curated by Harrell Fletcher and Mary Tsionges), Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
"Structural Elements", Transamerica Pyramid Lobby, San Francisco, CA
"The Self, Absorbed" (curated by Brian Wallace), The Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
"Intervistas/ Between the Bridges" (curated by Lorainne Walsh), Empire-Fulton State Park, Brooklyn, NY
"In All the Wrong Places" (curated by Sylvie Fortin), Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
"Horizontal Vertigo" (curated by Joan Linder), Rudolph-Poissant Gallery, Houston, TX
"Friends and Neighbors" (curated by John Tevis), Three Day Weekend, Los Angeles, CA
1998 "No Budget" (curated by Chris Murray and Kris Berube), 57 Hope, Brooklyn, NY, traveling
"Demolition/Construction" (curated by Eddie Torres) Longwood Arts Gallery, Bronx, NY
"Fold It Into a Box..." Space 2-D, New York, NY
1997 "Killing Time" (curated by Paul Ha), White Columns, New York, NY
"Fragments of Time" (curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud), Clemintine Gallery, New York, NY
"Existing Things" (curated by Anton Vidolke), Paco das Artes, Sao Paolo, Brazil

Residencies
2000 Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
1999 The Macdowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1996 Acadia Summer Arts Program, Mount Desert Island, ME

Periodicals

Sarah Coleman, "Critic's Choice," San Francisco Bay Guardian, October 13, 1999
Ken Johnson, "A Fertile Garden of Sculptures," The New York Times, August 13, 1999
John Judge, "Charles Goldman; Chicago Project Room: Chicago, IL -- De Chiara/ Stewart, New York, NY," zingmagazine, Summer, 1999
Kim Levin, "Far From the Soil," The Village Voice, June 15, 1999
Ken Johnson, "Charles Goldman and Gay Outlaw," The New York Times, June 11, 1999
Calvin Reid, "Arnaldo Morales and Charles Goldman at DeChiara/ Stewart," Art In America, June, 1999
Annie Provo, "On View: Williamsburg, Brooklyn," The New Art Examiner, July/August, 1998
Holland Cotter, "Killing Time," September 12, 1997
Carla Maria Porges, "Charles Goldman at Southern Exposure Gallery," Artforum, April, 1996