Curtis Goldstein
Region: Midwest
By constructing imagery from pieces of packaging, advertising,
and other discarded materials, my recent work mimics the
manufactured environment’s physical and psychological
omnipresence in a highly compressed form, while attesting
to the reflexive nature of perception. It is impossible to entirely
disentangle or separate seeing from memories of having seen.
Our brains collect fragments of visual information, neurally
mapped as countless mental representations, which are
assembled to provide shape, contour, and meaning to our
subsequent experiences. Through collage and bricolage, I evoke
this artificiality of human perception to critique a reductive,
anthropocentric vision of nature. The resulting works are
hypnagogic materializations of the Anthropocene—the current
epoch, defined by two interrelated developments: the growing
impact of Homo sapiens on a global scale and the accelerated
destruction of the earth’s ecosystems. The work resists the
cultural homogenization brought about by increased social
pressures and environmental degradation, gathering and
amalgamating the disparate elements of our world.