Colin Goldberg
Techspressionist
Bronx-born artist Colin Goldberg’s work explores the relationship between technology and personal expression. His studio practice bridges multiple disciplines, notably painting and digital media
Goldberg was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1971 to parents of Japanese and Jewish ancestry. His parents, Arthur and Kikuye, met at the University of Hawaii while pursuing their Ph. D.s in chemistry. Goldberg’s maternal grandmother, Kimiye Ebisu, was an accomplished practitioner and instructor of shodō, the art of Japanese calligraphy.
As an undergraduate Studio Art student at Binghamton University, Goldberg studied painting under Angelo Ippolito, a noted New York School Abstract Expressionist painter. Notably, Ippolito introduced the young artist to abstraction and encouraged him to move to New York City after graduation.
In the summer of 1992, Colin interned in the Hamptons as a studio assistant for the artist Steve Miller. As an intern, Goldberg learned silkscreen printing from Robert Bardin, a longtime studio assistant for Andy Warhol. Goldberg began to create abstract digital art during his period in the East Village, where he lived from 1994 through 2000. The artist supported himself as a freelancer, designing and coding some of the web’s first consumer-facing sites and launching brands such as Snapple and Popular Science online.
In 2005, the artist began experimenting with inkjet printing directly onto painted surfaces. These early works on paper were the beginning of his Wireframe series, an ongoing body of work referencing the visual language of technology.
In 2011, Goldberg coined the term Techspressionism as the title of a solo exhibition in Southampton, New York. The foreword for the exhibition catalog was written by the art historian Helen Harrison, Director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, the former home and studio of painters Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. Harrison’s essay expanded upon the idea of Techspressionism and was the first usage of the term in print. Techspressionism was first referred to as an art movement in a 2014 WIRED article entitled “If Picasso Had a MacBook Pro." The term was first used on television in 2015 on the PBS show Art Loft.
Techspressionism is defined in Wikipedia as “An artistic approach in which technology is utilized as a means to express emotional experience.” Within the last three years, Techspressionism has grown into an international movement of artists working with technology from over 40 countries. Since the summer of 2020, over 65,000 posts have been published on Instagram using the hashtag #techspressionism.
Colin Goldberg is a recipient of grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts. His works reside in numerous private, corporate, and public collections, including the Hearst Corporation, The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, The Verostko Center for the Arts, and The Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection, one of the world’s largest private collections of early digital art. The artist currently lives and works in North Bennington, Vermont.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester VT: East/West. August 31-October 6, 2019
2018 St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue NY: Techspressionism
2016 Farmingdale University Gallery, Farmingdale NY: History of the Future
2015 The Studios of Key West, Key West FL: Techspressionism – Works on Paper
2014 Glenn Horowitz, East Hampton NY: Techspressionism
The South Street Gallery, Greenport, NY: North Fork Modernism
2013 Art Sites Gallery, Riverhead, NY: Improbable Forms
Southampton Town Hall, Southampton, NY: Metagraphs
2012 Islip Art Museum, Islip NY: Metagraphs
2011 Yes! Gallery, Brooklyn, NY: Paint and Pixels
4 North Main Gallery, Southampton, NY: Techspressionism
2007 Hudson Gallery, Sylvania OH: Wireframes
Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery, Bowling Green, OH: Hand/Eye
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Hearst Tower, NYC: Art Now.2023 curated by Betty Levin
Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY: Techspressionism: Digital and Beyond
Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island: MoCa Lights
2021
MoCA LI (Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island): NeoTech
Techspressionism, online: Techspressionism 2021
University of Wyoming: Critical Abstraction
Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue NY: Spring Into Collecting
Techspressionism, Online: NFT Now, curated by Anne Spalter.
Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue, NY: Unframed
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY: 83rd Annual Artist Members Exhibition
2020
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY: 82nd Annual Artist Members Exhibition
OMNI Gallery, Uniondale, NY: Abstract Expressions curated by Dawn Lee
2019
VSOP Projects, Greenport NY: On the Grid. Curated by Scott Bluedorn
The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY: Emerging Artist Series
2018
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Bridgehampton NY: In the Cloud. Presented by Neoteric Fine Art
Islip Art Museum, Islip NY: Juried Exhibition – The Art of Meditation
Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester VT: Juried Exhibition – Vantage Point
North Fork Arts Collective, Greenport, NY: Summer Community Members’ Exhibition
Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester VT: Summer Members Exhibition – In A Different Light
Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI: Favorites’ Favorites, curated by Seder Burns0
2017
Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue NY: Hybrid.
The South Street Gallery, Greenport, NY: IMAGINED: New Dimensions in Digital Art.
Crush Curatorial, Amagansett NY: Alt Egos. Curated by Scott Bluedorn
Fine Arts Center Galleries, Bowling Green State University: Milestones – A Celebration of 25 Years of Digital Arts at BGSU
Omni Gallery, Uniondale, NY: Structuring our Habitat. Curated by Dawn Lee.
2016
Ripe Art Gallery, Huntington, NY. Introductions
Islip Art Museum, East Islip NY: IAM Up Late with Type Thursday
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY: 78th Annual Artist Members Exhibition
2015
Gallery North, Setauket, NY: Deck the Halls
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY: Convergence II
2014
Southampton Cultural Center, Southampton NY: Varieties of Visual Experience. Curated by Arlene Bujese.
Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY: The Irrational Portrait Gallery
Binghamton University Art Museum, 2014 Alumni Art Exhibition
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY: 76th Annual Artist Members Exhibition
East End Arts Council, Riverhead, NY: Line
2013
Lucky Street Gallery, Key West, FL: NANA13
Yes Gallery, Brooklyn, NY: Almost Priceless
Neoteric Fine Art, Amagansett NY: Synesthesia
Ille Arts, Amagansett, NY: 2nd Annual Holiday Show
Dodds & Eder, Sag Harbor, NY: Kingdom Animalia
2012
Viridian Artists, Chelsea NYC: Openings and Beginnings
The South Street Gallery, Greenport, NY: 10×10=100
artMRKT Hamptons, Bridgehampton, NY – Represented by Yes! Gallery, Brooklyn
Fountain Art Fair – 69th Regiment Armory, NYC – Represented by Yes! Gallery, Brooklyn
The South Street Gallery, Greenport NY: Emerging Art Long Island First Annual Juried Exhibition
Mills Pond House Gallery, St. James, NY: Four Forward Views
2011
Fountain Miami Art Fair – Miami, FL – Represented by Yes! Gallery, Brooklyn
Terrence Joyce Gallery, Greenport, NY: EMERGE 1.0
DeCordova Gallery, Greenport, NY: Abstractions
Watermill Museum, Watermill NY: Members Exhibition
2010
The South Street Gallery, Greenport, NY
2009
Greenport Gallery Walk, Greenport, NY: Featured Artist
2006
National University Center, San Diego, CA: Works in Progress
Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA: Terror?
Toledo OH: Artomatic419
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, LA: Snap To Grid
Hiestand Galleries, Oxford, Ohio: Emerging Codes Of the Digital
Sara Nightingale Gallery, Watermill NY: Red
2001
Boston Cyberarts Festival, Boston MA: Digital Identity
Serena at the Chelsea Hotel, NYC, NY: Spring Salon Show
2000
The Everbeta Object Gallery, NYC. techno.Art,
1997
The Emergent Collector, NYC NY: East Village Artists
1995
Sundance Gallery, Bridgehampton NY
Empire State Building, NYC NY: Earth Day Giant Earth Projections
1994
Southampton Cultural Center, Southampton NY
Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY: Annual Juried Exhibition
1993
The Villa Maria, Bridgehampton NY
Binghamton University Art Gallery, Binghamton NY
1989
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton NY: East End Student Show