Jack Goldstein
A Spotlight, 1972

Artist
Jack Goldstein

Title
A Spotlight

Year of creation
1972

Technology and duration
16mm film in black and white, 8 minutes with sound

Year of acquisition
2006

Acquisition of the foundation

"I want to transform a thought into something tangible, an object, and then back into a thought again." Jack Goldstein himself expressed this demand for his art. The performance artist, born in Canada in 1945, with roots in minimalist sculpture, also worked experimentally with films and audio recordings on vinyl records.

"The Knife" is one of those films by Goldstein in which he dealt with an object in a "minimalist variant of pop" and emphasized its object character: In the silent and only four-minute long film from 1975, there is an everyday object on a blue background Table knife can be seen in the center of the picture. The blade calmly and evenly reflects light that travels across the knife in different colors. To the viewer it appears that the knife is wet or submerged in water.

Jack Goldstein himself explained that he moved away from performances and devoted more time to film because of the need for more distance from the viewer. He wanted to avoid confrontation with the audience by turning to film or audio recordings and producing them independently of any audience.

On March 14, 2003, Jack Goldstein committed suicide in San Bernardino, California.