Mitchell-Innes & Nash and Metro Pictures announce collaborative exhibitions of work by Jack Goldstein (1945-2003). Together the exhibitions comprise a timely reevaluation of Goldstein’s oeuvre, covering the major aspects of his expansive body of work. Mitchell-Innes & Nash will present the artist’s early films, a selection of records, and a few large-scale paintings, while Metro Pictures will mount an exhibition concentrated on Goldstein’s paintings of the early 1980s. One of the leading postmodern artists of the 1970s and 80s, Jack Goldstein first came to prominence in Douglas Crimp’s influential “Pictures” exhibition at Artists Space in 1976 alongside Robert Longo and Sherrie Levine. That exhibition and its accompanying essay heralded a new generation of artists deeply engaged with popular culture who appropriated mass media images directly into their work. Goldstein is best known for his pioneering work in film: he was among the first to use both appropriated and carefully staged footage to isolate familiar images from their contexts. With technical devices such as looping and special effects, Goldstein challenged assumptions about the value of images in a media-saturated society. His best-known films include a loop of the MGM lion, a high diver illuminated in brilliant Technicolor, and a barking dog. His early work also includes a series of colored vinyl records of sound effects ranging from a tornado to wrestling cats. From the late 1970s through the 1980s, Goldstein created meticulously executed, highly polished paintings of natural phenomena and wartime explosives. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, and was most recently on view in New York at the 2004 Whitney Biennial. An opening reception for both exhibitions will take place on Friday, April 29: The reception will be held at Metro Pictures from 5-7pm, and at Mitchell-Innes & Nash from 6-8pm.