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Untitled, 1984 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 72 in (182.9 x 182.9 cm) Jack Goldstein B. 1945, Montreal, Canada Jack Goldstein was a Canadian-born, American artist known for his pioneering manipulations of appropriated imagery. Working originally in film and audio, he is best known today for his innovative and conceptual approach to painting. Celebrated for work that demonstrated a radically new approach to popular imagery, Goldstein rose to prominence in the late 1970s as a leading figure of the Pictures Generation. Goldstein turned his attention to painting in the early 1980s, and he began making monumental canvases that depict spectacular occurrences from the natural world. Often sourced from science and history textbooks, Goldstein’s most acclaimed paintings feature images of violent explosions, lightning storms, and celestial phenomena. Untitled (1984) hails from Goldstein’s “Celestial Phenomena” series, a group of large-scale canvases that depict elements of the solar system with photorealistic precision. Here he renders a massive image of the sun in burning red hues, against the deep black of outer space, and magnifies a solar flare that bursts near the top of the frame. Executed in airbrush at a monumental scale, the present work pushes the sun to the verge of abstraction, defamiliarizing viewers with the center of their own universe. Goldstein’s oeuvre, and his paintings in particular, changed the status of subjectivity in modern artmaking. He hired assistants to execute specific parts of his paintings, including Ashley Bickerton, who was Goldstein’s primary painting assistant for four years. Goldstein approached his paintings much as he’d approached his films: he directed their execution in a manner similar to directing his films, at a time well before this was accepted artistic practice. Through his pioneering experiments with appropriation, Goldstein valorized choice, concept, and execution over more traditional methods of self-expression. Forging the path for artists like Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, and Sherrie Levine, Goldstein propelled appropriation to the forefront of contemporary art, ensuring its success in deconstructing elements of mass media. Courtesy of Adam Lindemann and Venus Over Manhattan Fair Market Value: $500,000