“The
declamation of scale and luminosity were followed by a successive
pairing down of means and change of tone in Goldberg's expression.
By 1960 the surfaces had becone thicker and more of a piece, with
a few primary gestures of white plowing into their dark crust.
Their
range of allusion is minimal. They art tragic rituals from the
vantage point of a mournful chorus.
Because
of both a need for the expansion of elemental gestures and the
avaiability
of a new and larger studio, the size of the pictures increased
to immense proportions. in some paintings, white stripes trail
and jut
across washes of brick red or dense green with rough, veined areas
and mat silences. The defination is all in the placement and changes
of textures. The lines becone protagonists trying to take and
hold
positions against the clay of these parts. In other paintings,
the lines are left out and all that remains is a monochromatic
field activated
by shiny and matte sections, sometimes triangles or squares, that
seem to open up and then immediately close of deep vistas in the
center.
Goldberg called these his most 'introverted' paintings.”
— Bill
Berkson, Art News, January 1964
