THE SHOCK OF THE PRESENT
12.12.2015-25.6.2016
Haifa Museum of Art
Curator: Svetlana Reingold
Installation photographs:
Gary Goldstein's story is entwined with major historical narratives: childhood and teenage years as the son of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the United States after World War II. The presence of the absent family past, says Goldstein, undermined any confidence he had in the stability of things, causing reality to be experienced as insecure. In his formative years Goldstein became aware of the profound chasm between society's hopes and promises, and the reality of life. This gap is the key to understanding his works. At first gaze, these works offer entertainment based on the familiar, embodied in the accessible appearance of arrangements that recall comic strips, ads, movie posters, and more. Yet a closer look arouses disquiet and unease. The gap between the gaze from afar and observation from up close discloses a defiant critique of the existential comfort of our consumer culture.
