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