Guy Goldstein -

Guy Goldstein’s recent work has advanced through a material process of re-purposing components from factory production to convey systems of abstract concepts. Concerned with both modernist technologies and the possibilities within more imaginative systems of logic, Goldstein’s works inhabit a world entirely of his own making. Spread out on surfaces that resemble a studio worktable, his assemblages build networks and associations through color, shape, and form. Grapes have been cultivated in the region of Israel for thousands of years to make wine, a drink recognized for its complexity in cultivation and taste, used both for marking moments of celebration and victory as well as religious practices. In Vintage 2023, 2023, Goldstein presents two tables with elements from wine production, bottling, and chemical laboratories, combined together into a layered and coded “game” system. One table presents structures similar to a visual code, recalling spaces of masculinity via the multi-colored medals awarded for special recognition of military participation, or the stripes of phallic missiles and towers. The other table explores the complexity of wine and its chemical composition as well as the ritual reverence of life-blood. Laboratory-like glass containers of wine are intertwined and sealed with corks imprinted with clusters of grapes, a reminder of the Biblical story of spies returning to report on the fruitfulness of the land, while expressing a warning of the entanglements presented by its many inhabitants.