In 1980, not long after he moved into his basement apartment below ABC No Rio on Rivington Street, the painter Robert Goldman — who then was known as Bobby G — began a series of monumental figure portraits of the young people who lived in the neighborhood. This artistic vision culminated, in 1984, in a 50-foot-long, 10-foot-tall mural painted guerrilla-style on the cinder-block facade of a burned-out tenement at the corner of Delancey and Suffolk streets (now the site of a monstrous mega-development). The paintings have remained more or less unseen until this month, when a selection went on view at Hionas Gallery in Crown Heights. After more than 35 years they remain fresh and energetic, “portraying the youth of the Lower East Side,” as Goldman says in his artist statement, “with their most powerful inner essence projected out into the world beyond.”
February 17 to March 31, 2018, 1426 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn. Open Saturdays only, 12-6 pm
