BIO
Richard Goldberg is a visual artist who was born in New York and has been living and working in San Francisco since 1979. His undergraduate work included a year of study in Florence Italy, extensive travel to Europe’s great museums and participation in Joseph Beuys’ Free International University at Documenta 6 in Kassel Germany. He received an MFA in Painting from The San Francisco Art Institute. Drawing, painting and work on paper has been a major focus in the last 45 years. Most recently he has been making 3 dimensional works. He has exhibited in San Francisco Bay Area and had a one person exhibition in Florence Italy, and most recently at San Francisco’s FOG gallery in 2020.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Over the last 45+ years I have been making paintings and drawings, and more recently 3-dimensional works.
I have created my work in sequential groups, each exploring particular images, notions, and sensations that engage me, leading me towards making something tangible.
I have used various materials in making artwork. A constant in my work has been an appreciation and pleasure in the visual and physical qualities of the materials.
My objective has been to create objects that are a visual experience and physical presence, that have a dialogue within themselves and with the viewer. I want each piece to be an evocative visual and material poetry which resonates and lingers, to have a clarity and also a resistance to being known.
QUOTE
Humorous, vulgar, poetic, violent and serene –the art of Richard Goldberg is a psychological and visceral journey on a dark road to the end of the night. Upon discovering the work of Goldberg one is transported to a prism of both shock and unconstrained wonder. His subject matter, from catatonic and bulbous poodles to cavemen clubbing themselves to death, tell a historical tale of man and beast – primal urges of lust for murder –a wonderland of perturbed and psychedelic fauna. Goldberg learned at a young age the power of art and that to understand his world he must paint it, draw it, and sculpt it: “I have a strong memory of making a papier-mâché puppet at school when I was 6 years old. It was ugly and I gave it a rude name. It felt subversive. I was delighted and amused with my small gesture of independent expression.” Goldberg uses a variety of media to complete his drawings but he has also explored the use of carpet and in his recent work has used walnut shells, photographs, and wood to create three dimensional works. If you look back at the nearly three decades of Goldberg’s oeuvre you will notice a deeply spiritual and creative artist who through the use of metaphor and symbolism – with a soupçon of tongue and cheek – has created a twisted and romantic landscape of the human experience. Life, death, love, and sex all wash up along the shore of Goldberg’s paintings and sculptures like precious and remarkable artifacts, objects, and talismans that we can use to further elucidate the hidden meanings and quiet desires of not only the collective unconscious, but our personal unconscious, our anima and animus, and also our universe.
Oliver Maxwell Kupper, editor-in-chief AUTRE magazine
Videos
VIDEO WALK THROUGH OF THE EXHIBIT ”RACKETS AND LAMINATES” FOG GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO, 2020
Resume
Education
1977-1978 Studio Arts Center International, Florence, Italy
1978 BFA University of Denver
1987 MFA San Francisco Art Institute
Group Exhibitions
“IN FLUX: Recalibrating the Unknown” Museum of Northern California Art Chico, California
EXHIBIT CATALOG: https://issuu.com/sfartistsalumni/docs/influx_catalog
2024
“California Sculpture Slam” San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, California.
2020
“The Third Dimension” San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, California.
2019
“California Sculpture Slam” San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, California.
2017
“Friday the Thirteenth” Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, California.
Two person show along with painter Scott Williams
1991
“Chain Reaction Show”, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco,
California.
1989
Talk Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
1985
“Small Works ‘82”, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California.
1982
Altarpiece Gallery, San Francisco, California.
1981
“Son of Mayhem Performance Festival”, San Francisco, California.
1980
One person exhibitions
“Rackets and Laminates” Sculptures and collages, Far Out Gallery, San Francisco, California
VIDEO TOUR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhpdY8Nf_S0
2020
“Orologi, Mostri, Infortuni: Drawings and Paintings”, SACI Gallery, Florence, Italy.
1995
Tassajara Café, San Francisco, California, 1991
1991
Vesuvio’s, San Francisco, California, 1985
1985
Online articles
Artist’s website: rgoldbergartworks.com
Pas Un Autre Magazine, “Studio Visit Profile” July 2012
https://autre.love/editorialmain/2012/07/03/studio-visit-with-artist-richard-goldberg
Hillbilly Magazine, “Interview with Richard Goldberg”, July 2012
http://hillbillymagazine.tumblr.com/post/27196717054/richard-goldberg
Musician Riggy Rankin’s Website/Blog:Jews in Irish Music, April 2023