"For me, artistic practice is a process of transformation and a complete detachment from any goal," says promising young artist Jonathan Goldman.
By ELEANOR COHENJonathan Goldman(photo credit: DOR EVEN-HEN)
Asphalt, chemical laboratory materials, plant roots, wood and ready-made objects are all combined in the artwork of Jonathan Goldman. To these objects he attaches electronic equipment, LED lights and sound sensors. His work process challenges conventional techniques and materials, implementing experiments that stretch the boundaries of the medium in which he works.Goldman, who lives and works in Tel Aviv, graduated from the Multidisciplinary Art Department at Shenkar in 2012.It is the encounter with the materials, the dynamic work process and the transformations that occur in the work, from the formulation of the concept to the finished object, that fascinate Goldman and constitute the heart of his artistic practice. In his work process, Goldman uses drawing as a point of departure for translating images that capture his imagination into the visual dimension. Hence, the original meaning of the images becomes fluid, and they undergo a transformation that develops them into objects.Fantastical landscapesRecently, the central image leading to this transformative process was a 1970s wooden loudspeaker. The attraction to this image stems not only from the artist’s personal memories attached to it but also from its old-fashioned aesthetics. The abstraction generated by Goldman gives the image new meanings, while processing and enhancing it in 2D and 3D.Sometimes the loudspeaker that appears in the paintings becomes a symbolic drawing, a submarine window or a porthole that opens to fantastical landscapes.The loudspeaker reappears as a real object in Goldman’s installations, emitting sounds that have been recorded and processed from the environment in which he lives and works.Like the visual images in his work, which are composed of memories and random daily encounters, the sounds can also be recordings of voices from Goldman’s own past or sounds created during the installation’s development.A sound boxGoldman’s work has evolved to include a deeper investigation of the conceptual relationship between the audio and the visual dimensions of his work. The sound sensors, the lighting and the organic materials and unique sounds that make up the work come together to form a unit with an inner engine, an engine that feeds on energy and on acts of conversion and transformation.
The resulting rhythms that accompany the site-specific installations connect the objects in the space, while the loudspeakers serve as a kind of sound box for the creative process itself.
