Inside Serge Goldberg’s sunlit, 3,000-square-foot studio, notably large swaths of canvas cover the walls. Many are over seven feet wide and six feet tall. They’re covered in fervent brushstrokes in pleasing hues—some in vivid palettes of pinks and purples, others in subdued earth tones.
In particular, on the wall immediately to the right of the door, a fresh piece of canvas is stapled up, covered in brushstrokes in greens, browns, and many tints in between—for now, at least. He has just returned from a trip to England, he explains, where he volunteered on an archeological dig excavating a 2,000-year-old Roman fort.
“The initial marks on this piece, to me, evoke the feeling of that excavation … These are some of the colors that are left over in my mind from that experience,” Serge explains. “I thought, ‘Well, wouldn't it be kind of cool to start a painting with the feeling of the grass on the surface and then dig into different layers of the earth?’”
For Serge, inspiration may originate in travel, like recent trips to England or India or Ecuador, or it may be sourced from muses as simple as “the cold,” but he doesn’t feel the need for the viewer to know that—or even see it for that matter. Serge’s work is typically meant to be non-representational; if abstract art is an interpretation of something real—albeit obscured–non-representational art does not reference anything at all. It merely is.
“One of the things that interests me is creating an image that doesn't have to associate with anything other than itself,” Serge explains. “I just want to create a composition that makes some sort of visual sense all by itself and doesn't have to be described as something that we know of.”
Before any oil paint touches the surface, Serge cuts the raw canvas and meticulously prepares it. Once the painting is completed, he eventually stretches it onto a backup frame that he has built himself. “By the time I staple that raw canvas to the wall, it's got my fingerprints all over it,” he says. “I like the idea of working through the entire process — all of it originating from me.”
The paintings take such large form so Serge can immerse himself in the work, he explains. “I can use my whole body and range of motion in these works. I've also got plenty of space in this studio to back up or get close and really look at what I'm doing.”
The large scale of the paintings was the genesis for finding the warehouse space, which he remodeled extensively into its current studio layout. He calls the space Studio Sixty-Five Ninety-Five (Studio6595.com). He often works with other artists at the studio and occasionally conducts painting workshops. Currently, his work is on display in an exhibit at the Museum of Boulder (MuseumOfBoulder.org) titled “Complementary Visions,” which began November 1 and runs through February 10.
Serge is also part of a larger body of artists in Boulder, pushing the bounds of residents’ and visitors’ understanding and expectations of the city’s art scene. Known as the Boulder Contemporary Group (BoulderContemporaryGroup.com), the seven-artist collective collaborates on marketing efforts and events, like studio tours—a particular interest of Serge’s.
“I love having guests come to the studio—showing people around, learning about their interests, pulling paintings off the racks, talking about the space, and just showing them what I do. It's always exciting when a guest finds a painting they'd like to have for their own collection. But even if I never sold another painting, I'd still be doing this because it's just so engaging … [Painting is] a very therapeutic kind of activity. But it's good therapy when somebody buys a painting, too,” he laughs.
See more of Serge’s work on Instagram at @studio.6595, or contact Serge via Studio6595.com to arrange a studio visit.