Eric Goldberg: Artist Painter Printmaker

Artist's Statement

My Imagination is fueled by the world around me, by places and people and the thoughts and feelings they evoke. I make images which express these concepts and emotions. I want my images to convey both the natural world and deeper truths, which are wordless and need to be expressed through metaphor.

My Method of Working

Drawing is the method in which my image making begins and through which it evolves. Whether the source of the work is from direct observation, a photo I had taken or from my imagination, it is always initially expressed as a drawing. Ultimately, the work may become an etching or a painting, but at its core is always drawing. Drawing has a tactile directness that connects the mind and the hand. It is a two-way connection where the drawing evokes thought and thought evokes drawing. An unintentional gesture of the hand can change the concept in a direction that the mind alone would not have traveled.

Etching on a copper plate is, by its very nature, a process with many steps from its beginning through its completion. It is a process which is well suited to my way of working. I am able to develop a drawing which evolves as it proceeds. Values and forms, must be decided, resolved and executed during the drawing. Patterns, made from lines, cross lines and stipples become spontaneously obvious to me while I work. Patterns and values can be built and enhanced by the layering of successive etches. When the plate is inked and printed, the inverted image becomes an entity onto itself; the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Painting is filled with surprises. Developing a painting enables me to be more spontaneous. I can draw with a brush of liquid pigment that flows across the surface with a sensuous fluidity. The lines and areas of paint can be pushed, reshaped and altered in an infinite number of ways. The image can develop and evolve throughout its entire process. The painting I finish is seldom the painting I began.

Eric Goldberg
Mansfield, Connecticut 2009