PROJECT
FEATURE ARTICLE
DINA GOLDSTEIN
The David Series
– ABOUT THE PROJECT
An artist’s creative relationship with a regular model – someone they turn to again and again as muse, as prop, as inspiration – can be an extraordinary exchange of a shared passion to create art. Too often an artist’s model isn’t given their proper due though their part in the creative act is pivotal. For photographer Dina Goldstein – now widely exhibited for her various narrative photography projects – her model, David, became her entry point into creating characters and constructed scenes as hew work shifted from documentary photography to theatrical, narrative-based projects. It’s always fascinating to listen to Dina talk about her work – and particularly so when getting to look back to the start of her incredible career when barely all she had was a camera, a determined spirit and David at her beck and call. And she still made magic.
“Coming years prior to her current work using tableaux photography to address social issues with a satiric wit, The David Series shows Goldstein’s early efforts to tell a bigger story using a single person. David appears here as a punkboy, provocateur and prima donna. But each image is a mask and the result of careful construction. From the start, Goldstein approached the images as a production. ”
– Barry Dumka
EXCERPT
DINA GOLDSTEIN
The David Series
“I found him perfectly beautiful.”
- Lucian Freud on his frequent model, Leigh Bowery
In figurative art, the relationship between artist and subject is a complex intertwining of reality and inspiration, dominance and supplication, reverence and sensuality. The subject of an artistic creation somehow, by osmosis, informs the resulting artwork – something of their spirit is suffused into the scene though the viewer may never know how. Artists who return to the same model over and over allow that spirit to be part of an extended creative journey. Pierre Bonnard painted countless scenes involving his wife Marthe over 3 decades as his attention – and her willingness to participate – brightens, flickers and fades. For Lucian Freud, the “beauty” he found in Leigh Bowery – a London clubland transvestite performance artist who turns up again and again in Freud’s later work – was the beauty of potential. The wondrous opportunity to keep making something more from this hulk of material at hand. That same will to reinvention and transformation unites and uplifts the individual images in Dina Goldstein’s fascinating collection, The David Series.
Goldstein met David Manske in 1990 after returning to Vancouver from time spent working as a photojournalist in the Middle East. They both had taken jobs in a Mexican-themed restaurant to save for future creative initiatives. And they both saw themselves as outsiders in a traditionally whitebread city. Manske, then 19, had been raised in Colombia and came to Canada to more openly explore his sexuality. Goldstein grew up speaking hebrew in Tel Aviv, a city known for its cultural liberalism. After her parents decided to relocate the family to Canada, Goldstein experienced a jarring sense of cultural displacement. Initially her new surroundings troubled her sense of self, then they transformed her way of seeing. Both Goldstein and Manske were determined to break free of the city’s restrictive cultural norms and create something new. Soon after meeting, they became roommates, sparring partners and collaborators. It was a tumultuous and pivotal period for both. And when Goldstein – after leaving behind her initial career as a photojournalist – first began to explore the potential in figurative photography, David was a willing and inventive recruit.
— (end of excerpt)
© Barry Dumka/BCREATIVE CONSULTING
Our Services
Copywriting + Ghost Writing
What you say matters.
BCreative Consulting provides our clients a wide range of written and ghostwritten material to achieve their messaging goals. The key is to write with an audience in mind. Emotion, authenticity and storytelling all play a part in capturing the attention and loyalty of others.
For artists, personal brands and small businesses, the story of their creative individuality - the vital core of their identity - is a powerful opportunity to connect what they do with others. Your audience wants to be informed and inspired. Go at it with gusto.
Content Creation + Marketing
What you share matters.
BCreative Consulting works with our clients to shape the image and stories they share in this social media-fuelled marketing age. Digital storytelling is one of the most effective methods for growing audience engagement, developing your brand presence and driving sales. Compelling content earns you stature, inspires trust and stokes curiosity and loyalty. But you have to think about your audience as much as yourself. Still, even the most personal stories can have universal appeal. Be relatable and be inspiring.
Art Consulting + Event Curation
What others experience matters.
BCreative provides art consulting and event curation services for select projects to create aesthetically appealing and client-focused experiences. With extensive art consulting and project management experience for residential, commercial and hospitality projects throughout North America, we know the vision and strategic choices necessary to create exceptional art collections. Sales-focused creative events also require strategic planning and a purposeful vision. To create lasting value, it's essential to make a beautiful first impression.
QUESTIONS?
As a freelance creative consultancy, BCreative Consulting gets involved in many unique projects specific to the needs of our clients. We enjoy insightful conversations, positive client relationships and heralding the authentic meaning and value at the core of all creative efforts. It’s a powerful opportunity – and a great challenge – to inspire an audience. And we love being part of that process.
Do you have a project that needs some strategic help? Or a good story?