Signs form a language, but not the one you think you know.     ― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

My work draws from observation of nature’s resilience. I look for the overlooked pockets of trees, weeds, and wildflowers that persist amid concrete, steel, and neglected buildings and terrain. These untamed spaces show how vegetation, including invasive plants, adapts and thrives despite harsh conditions, extreme climate change, and human intervention.

A background in typography and design shapes how I compose my imagery. Rather than depict plants literally, I distill their complex forms into repeating lines and marks that echo botanical structures, building a visual language of abstract topographies, much like letterforms, that becomes a personal text. Rhythm, pattern, and gesture come from my love for and engagement with dance, adding lyricism and momentum to the way I move through the picture plane. My hand-mixed palette of dispersion paint, acrylic, and oil is drawn from the light of transitional moments: the soft glow of pre-dawn and the shifting hues of dusk.

Through paintings and drawings, I hope to create quiet spaces to linger, meander, and slow down.

 BIO

Abby Goldstein was born in Highland Park, Illinois, she received a BFA from Pratt Institute, NY, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, NY. Abby holds the position of Clinical Professor of Art and heads the Graphic Design area of study at Fordham University, NY. Recent exhibitions include Blue Vibrations at Artisan Lofts, NYC, GarveySimon Selections 2024, Transmitter Gallery, McKenzie Fine Art, Metaphor Art Projects, and Kentler International Art Space. She has received fellowships to the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation, Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Science, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Willapa Bay Artist fellowship, and Yaddo. Public commissions and curatorial work include Gateway Center in East New York, Manhattan Bridge Bicycle Path, and the NYC Street Design Manual exhibition at the Ildiko Butler Gallery, Fordham University, NY. Ms. Goldstein has received numerous awards for her design work and has collaborated on several books, including Noisy Autumn: Sculpture and Works on Paper by Christy Rupp, Year By Year Poems by Lynne Sachs; "Revival Type" with Paul Shaw, and is the co-designer of the award-winning book, "Helvetica and the New York City Subway System." Abby lives in Brooklyn, New York.