Their careers took opposite trajectories: Sally Gil went to school in California and is now based in Brooklyn, while Rebekah Goldstein went to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and now works in San Francisco. Gil makes patterned two-dimensional collages; Goldstein makes complex and bold abstract paintings. So why did Jack Geary pair them for a two-person show? It’s because Gil and Goldstein have something in common: an open-ended interpretation of the world around them, one that translates to their artwork, encouraging the viewer to look deeper and to find meaning in unexpected places.
“I am interested in the relationship between logic and intuition,” Gil has said. “I believe they are interdependent.” The artist works through this relationship between order and randomness in her textural collages, built up with multiple layers to create physical depth; there’s a sense of pattern and underlying mathematics, but also one of commotion, even chaos. Goldstein’s works, on the other hand, are abstract but linear. Some works attain a distinctly three-dimensional feel, while others, in their color palette and overlapping shapes recall the works of the Cubists. All of these works cause a similar reaction—they prompt the eye to search, to look closer, to seek out familiar forms, to get at the meaning behind the surface shapes and colors. This is where Gil and Goldstein come together: not in style, nor in technique, but in quality and effect.
Though showing together at Jack Geary, both featured artists have received noteworthy recognitions on their own. Gil has shown her work in group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum and was a fellow at Apexart, while Goldstein has shown her work at several solo exhibitions in San Francisco, also founding The Painting Salon—a monthly forum that promotes conversation about contemporary art—in 2012.
“Sally Gil and Rebekah Goldstein: Another Way In” is on view at Jack Geary Contemporary, New York, Jan. 9–Feb. 7, 2015.
