David Goldes: Artist and Teacher

From the series “Electricity Pictures”, Electrified nail, 2012, Gelatin Silver Print

David Goldes newest series of photographs captures the sublime energy of electricity, the invisible yet ubiquitous cornerstone of contemporary life. Using graphite, conductive paint, water and even glass, Goldes manipulates electricity to make visible the unseen current.

The artist’s newest work, on display at Yossi Milo Gallery through March 15^th, is grouped into two categories: recreations of early electrical experiments from by pioneer scientists like Michael Faraday and Humphry Davy form the series Electricity Pictures and the series Electro-graphs, which depicts complete electrical circuits made from graphite which are then charged with a high-voltage battery, resulting in sparks of light. The artist’s original graphite drawings are also on view.

Goldes is a rare type of artist, someone whose practice is interdisciplinary. He uses photography as a tool to capture and record his electrical experiments. This unique point of view developed from the artist’s early carrier as a scientist.  He received a B.A in Biology and Chemistry from SUNY Buffalo, a M.A. in Molecular Genetics from Harvard University and received an M.F.A. in photography from SUNY Buffalo.  Goldes currently teaches at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

From the series Electricity Picture, Faraday Transformer, 2012, Gelatin Silver Print

The role of teacher informs Goldes’ photography. Learning about his work is like taking an elementary science class, challenging the viewer’s scientific knowledge. The artist constructs his experiments by cobbling together household objects into elaborate electrical circuits. Mixing high-voltage and water is something no one is supposed to do, but Goldes’ doesn’t shy away from dangerous situations. In his laboratory, or studio, Goldes’ pushes the boundaries by controlling the element, forcing it to arch across wires, course through water and jump from glass to glass He even created his own Faraday Transformer, which changes electromagnetic currents into electricity (as see on the left)

To the untrained mind, electrical current can seem like magic and each picture tells a story.

From the series Electricity Pictures, Charged Wires Spinning and Balancing on Exacto Knives, 2012, Gelatin Silver Print

Charged Wires Spinning and Balancing on Exacto Knives is a particularly complicated picture. Goldes attaches wire to a glass rod that is held in place by clay stuck to a wooden table. (this table, Goldes explains, has been replaced throughout the years after it becomes too singed from electrical experiments gone awry). The sturdy wires hold in place the exacto knives. Spinning fans, or two pieces of “z” shaped wire soldered together and punctured in the middle, balance on the tip of the exacto knife. The glass pole is charged and electricity surging through the wire and exacto knives cause the fans to spin rapidly, a result that shocked Goldes. The resulting Gelatin Silver Print, taken with a 4 X 5 camera is minimalist and mysterious. Goldes work remind me of a mad scientist’s laboratory and of arte povera movement in which artist’s made art cheap, easy to find materials.

From the series Electricity Pictures, Small Jacob’s ladder, 2013, Archival Pigment Print

Jacob’s ladder is another highlight of the exhibition and is an example of Goldes color photography. This long exposure, with a digital camera, captures electricity arching between two sheets of paper. The edges of the paper are covered with conductive paint, a material sold at radio shack that a student discovered and recommended to Goldes. A single line of conductive paint is drawn from one edge of the paper to the other at the bottom of the sheet. Wires are connected to the paper with clamps and charged with a high-voltage battery. When the power is switched on, the electricity arches back and forth between each piece of paper, slowly working its way up to the top. With a long exposure, Goldes is able to capture the entire process. The resulting Archival Pigment Print is a awe-inspiring construct that captures the culmination of the experiment.

Installation Shot, 15 Electro-graphs, various dates, Archival Pigment Print

But, Goldes’ Electro-graphs steal the show. Goldes first discovered the conductive properties of graphite after reading a single sentence in an old science textbook. The sentence stated that graphite might be conductive, sparking Golde’s imagination. Using a typical No. 2 yellow pencil, he drew a simple circuit and hooked it up to a high-voltage battery. To his surprise, it worked. To make the current visible, Goldes introduces small cuts and erasures into the graphite causing the electricity to jump across the gaps. The artist captures the moment when the drawing is charged, creating a dramatic and beautiful photograph. The original drawings, blackened from the sparking electricity and with wires still attached, are also on display and are sculptural in quality. These one-of-a-kind pieces are beautiful and give the viewer greater insight into Goldes’ process.

Goldes’ work is singular. His photographs explore the point of intersection between art and science, simplicity and complexity, documentation and fine art. He works without regard to photographic trends. As an artist, he acknowledges the beauty of science and the influence of electricity – the driving force of everyday life in the digital age. As we become more dependent on our smart phones, Ipads and the internet, we rely even more on the power of electricity to run those gadgets – a resource we take for granted – until the power is shut off. During superstorm Sandy, electricity and where to find it became the ultimate search. The city was divided in half, those with power and those without. People crowded into Starbucks and public libraries above 42^nd street for a 15 min of charge and the chance to communicate with their loved ones. Without electricity people were forced back to 19^th century life, lighting fires in their homes, reading by candle light, playing board games and living life not by the hours of a clock, but by sunrise and sunset. Just as Edward Burtynsky stresses the importance of water, Goldes champions electricity. For without electricity where would we be?

All images (c) David Goldes, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

Richard Serra at Gagosian

The sharp taste of metal in my mouth, my first observation while winding my way through Richard Serra’s two-part exhibition at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. As a powerhouse in the art world, the Gagosian has two locations in Chelsea with enough space to fit Serra’s large slabs of weatherproof steel. The West 24^th Street location features four different works: 7 Plates, 6 Angles; Intervals; Grief and Reason (for Walter); and Counterweights. Each made with haunting bluish steel. The West 21^st street show features two pieces of curved orange steel, arching in and around itself. Although both pieces fit into Serra’s unique sculptural lexicon, each portion of the exhibition has its own personality and tone.

Blue-grey steel

The defining aspect of the 24^th street installation is the distinct color of the steel, a blue-grey with flecks of orange scattered throughout. These scratches of orange are an unexpected counterpoint to the blue that adds brilliance and depth. The saturation of blue varies throughout the slab of steel, creating an otherworldly color that seems to speak across the void, giving the show a somber tone.

The largest and most imposing sculpture is 7 Plates, 6 Angles. This tell-all title gives a physical description, 7 plates of 5” thick, weatherproof, blue-grey steel positioned to make 6 oblique angles. This 81” sculpture zigzags its way through the entire great room of the 24^th street gallery. Entering each angle and walking toward the apex, the walls enclose the viewer as if entering a tomb.

7 plates, 6 angles

Counterweights is more playful. The title, again, defining the work of two large steel slabs slumped up against a wall, one 6” x 39” x 5” slab, tall and thin, and another squatter 78” x 53” x 5” slab.

Then there’s Grief and Reason (for Walter) dedicated to the American sculptor and composer Walter De Maria, who died last July. Again the title informs the work made from two stacks of steel, each an inversion of the other. To me the stack with the larger block on top would be a symbol of grief, crushing down onto the smaller block below, suffocating it. While reason – what pulls us out of our grief – is the smaller block, floating above the larger slab.

But my favorite work at the 24^th street location is the imposing Intervals, 24 plates of 6” steel in varying heights and lengths placed in a tight-knit grid. Moving through the tight enclosures between plates, I felt a sense of being watch, either by sedentary soldiers or ancestral totems. As stated by Martha Schwendener of The New York Times, Intervals is reminiscent of the Holocaust memorial in Germany of Concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern that is meant to create a confusing and uneasy atmosphere. Intervals evokes similar emotions but the blue-grey color of the steel makes the sculpture more alluring.

If the 24^th street exhibition is somber, the 21^st Street exhibition, Inside Out, is jubilant. One continuous piece of weatherproof steel, Inside Out, wraps and winds itself through the gallery space. The bright orange rust of the sculpture’s walls reminded me of a mid-western color pallet. Snaking my way through the twists and turns of the sculpture triggered vertigo and disorientation, but also an overwhelming sense of awe.

An experience I thought must be similar to walking through the depths of the Grand Canyon – losing oneself in the paths carved into stone by ancient waterways. The serpentine passageways open up into rotundas, a relief after the narrowness, and encircle the viewer with the orange steel. The color, the smell, the towering walls, the pureness of experience, is mesmerizing.

What makes Serra’s work so engaging is the fact that the objects define and delineate space, dictating your movements. To experience Serra’s sculptures is to live. It’s not just seeing a piece of artwork. The viewer imposes their energy onto the sculpture and the sculpture radiates back a force of its own.

The material is also engaging, steel is something that as a New Yorker, is omnipresent and defines the skeletons of this great city. According to Wikipedia, steel is one of the most common elements in the world and is a major component of not only building infrastructure, but tools, ships, automobiles, machine appliances and weapons, objects that define our 21^st century lives. Steel is also an indicator of economic development. The more steel a country produces the better the economy.

Thus it makes sense to me, that Serra as an American artist, would want to use steel as a symbol of our country’s claim as inventors of the skyscraper and as a symbol of our economic status. But Serra also uses steel in an artful manner that speaks to life, death and the American landscape.