Jack Goldstein's Retrospective at The Jewish Museum Showcases Films, Soundscapes, and Paintings

The Jewish Museum in New York City presented JACK GOLDSTEIN x 10,000 from May 10 to September 29, 2013, a retrospective of the Canadian-born artist Jack Goldstein (1945-2003). This exhibition originated at the Orange County Museum of Art in California, marking Goldstein's first American retrospective. It featured his 1970s 16mm films like A Glass of Milk (1972) and Some Plates (1972), where objects such as a glass of milk or a stack of plates are disrupted by external forces, exploring kinetic dynamism. These films were projected in a continuous forty-minute loop. Goldstein's sound works included Two Cats Wrestling (1976) and Suite of 9 Records with Sound Effects (1976), with The Tornado creating a haunting atmosphere. His 1980s paintings depicted lightning storms, meteor showers, and volcanic eruptions, airbrushed by assistants, reflecting commercial vibrancy and intellectual ambitions of the Pictures Generation. The show also displayed seventeen bound volumes of his final philosophical writings. Goldstein's work across mediums used found images, sounds, and texts to interrogate fragility and vitality, with the title referencing his artistic capacity. The exhibition highlighted his transition from incandescence to other forms, as seen in his last film The Jump (1978).