Oaxaca Between the Lines

Erin Cluley Gallery launched a solo exhibition by Gary Goldberg, opening through the gallery’s new online platform ECG Viewing Room. For “Oaxaca Between the Lines,” Goldberg created five new large-scale hand felted wall textiles, made in partnership with artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico. While shiny photographs of Mexican cobblestone streets may be commonplace, Goldberg’s work explores how the Colonial Mexican architecture transforms into landscapes and mythologies when shot in close range. The artist then transforms the images into photorealistic tapestries using a specific Mexican felting process. Goldberg’s textiles question the status of the landscape as a construct. Elements in the artist’s work can recall landscapes as he often imposes a horizon line, creating a pictorial space that refers to a land sky relationship. Altogether, the works in “Oaxaca Between the Lines,” seek to explore the idea of abstracted landscapes by bifurcating a composition and utilizing dark and light values.