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Artists celebrate Goldstein Gallery, closing in January

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By DAVID LEE

Eric Wolf and Karl Knussbaum pose for a photo in the Goldstein Gallery on November 25. Photo by David Lee

CHATHAM – Joyce Goldstein was the proprietor of the Goldstein Gallery in the Village of Chatham since 2005. Her death on September 23 leaves an empty space in the art scene of Chatham where once there were several spaces dedicated to showing the work of local artists. But on Saturday, November 25, a celebration of sorts was held at the gallery, a closing reception for the work of painter Patrick Neal, and also an occasion for the presentation of a work of projection art by Karl Nussbaum who gave a little talk and dedicated his performance to Goldstein.

Nussbaum’s work featured projected images, one on the face of the building outside and one on the back wall inside the gallery running simultaneously and visible through the large picture window. Images change in fractions of a second and blend in a fevered collage, so the viewer may recognize something but it passes in an instant and registers like a half-remembered dream.

The projections feature African textile patterns and also psychedelic imagery from music posters from the late 1960s, and accompaniment by the soundtrack of ’70s African funk music as well as Jimi Hendrix performing “Are You Experienced?” Also appearing in the video are old black-and-white pictures of Nussbaum’s Aunt Lotte, a Holocaust survivor who became a christian missionary after WWII and did mission work in Africa. It is to her that the video is dedicated.

Eric Wolf, an artist who worked with Goldstein until her death, noted that the last few shows have been getting attention from area publications.

“In the last few weeks I have met so many interested people,” he said.

But Wolf admitted that he has his own art work and he doesn’t want to run the gallery. Nobody else in the community has come forward to take over so it will close on January 13. The current exhibit, titled

“Horizon Line,” features the work of 30 artists and has been reviewed in the Albany Times Union.

Nussbaum will reprise his projection performance for the gallery closing party on Sunday, January 13.

“Joyce was not a business person, she was an artist and this gallery was her art. She was very connected to the artists she showed,” Wolf said.

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