VISITORS CAN INTERPRET NEW ACQUISITION AT USU ART MUSEUM

The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art invites visitors to engage one-on-one with a newly acquired painting—and provide feedback. This painting, a gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, went straight from the crate onto the wall, and highlights the fact that the Museum’s collection is continually growing.

The painting by Jack Goldstein, large-scale and abstract, is presented in isolation in the Museum’s West Gallery. The eight foot by eight foot canvas is brightly colored so as to fill one’s field of vision. Art critics have suggested varied meanings—from heat or radiation scans, to pure energy or matter. But visitors may write their feelings and ideas on “Collected Thoughts” sheets. These sheets will become a part of the display, on view next to the painting, so Museum staff and other visitors can share their experience.

The Museum’s Education Curator, Jay Heuman, said, “Goldstein was educated on the west coast during the early 1970s, lived and worked in New York City during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, then returned to the Los Angeles area in the early 1990s.” He continued, ”Yet his artwork is unlike anything created by other artists on the west or east coast. Goldstein was unique, and his popularity has increased exponentially since 2000, despite his untimely death in March 2003 at the age of 57.”

In fact, Goldstein was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City), in addition to major solo exhibitions at theWhitney (2002), MAGASIN – Centre National d’Art Contemporain de Grenoble, France (2002) and Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany (2002). Also, during the past few years, his paintings have been included in exhibitions in Berlin, Cologne, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Munich, and Vienna.

“Jack Goldstein did not produce a large number of paintings,” said Museum Director Victoria Rowe, “but he was an influential artist on the east and west coasts of the United States and internationally. We are lucky to have this stellar example in our collection.”

For further information, please call Education Curator, Jay Heuman, at 435-797-0165.

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, 650 North 1100 East, Logan, UT, 84322, (435) 797-0163, Fax (435) 797-3423, www.artmuseum.usu.edu. Summer hours: Tues., Thurs. & Fri.: 10:30 am - 4:30 pm; Wed.: 10:30 am - 7:00 pm; Sat.: noon - 4 pm; Closed Sundays, Mondays and major holidays. Admission is free; Parking $4 (free after 3:45 pm). For more information or to schedule a tour of the Museum, please call (435) 797-0165. The Museum is accessible to persons with disabilities.