Untitled

Michael Goldberg belongs to the so-called second-generation Abstract Expressionists who, beginning in the 1950s, embraced the gestural and painterly style of Willem de Kooning. He remained committed to abstraction throughout his career. This 1989 painting on paper displays Goldbergʼs characteristic energetic brush strokes and acidic colors. Also typical of his work is the sense of structure discernible behind the seemingly loose application of paint. Newsprints applied by transfer combine with the colorful brushwork to enhance the rhythm and tension of the work, which relate also to Goldbergʼs love of jazz. Goldberg often collaborated with poets; in the Morganʼs Printed Books collection is a copy of Odes, a book combining Frank OʼHaraʼs poetry and Goldbergʼs prints.