Land connections

KADIN T. GOLDBERG has always loved the great outdoors, exploring the terrain when hiking and becoming familiar with his surroundings wherever he has lived. When he started as an artist, that natural connection to the land made the foray into landscape painting easy. He says, “Painting the landscape was the best way I could find to follow my passion for art yet still spend the majority of my time outside.”

The Interlude, oil, 48 x 36

Goldberg, who also paints the figure and portraits, had classical art training at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. On returning to the United States, he studied under still life artist Angela Cunningham in Marshall, North Carolina, learning the cast as well as the portrait and figure. After a year of private study with Cunningham, Goldberg began painting the outdoors on his own. He has since taken workshops with landscape painters like Josh Clare, Mark Boedges and Dave Santillanes.

“I think of style sort of like a person’s handwriting. It comes from one’s life experiences, their likes, their dislikes and their influences,” says Goldberg. “My experience studying classical realism has led me to paint in a fairly accurate and realistic way but because I love loose paintings with a lot of texture and implied detail, I have found a style that works for me and perhaps sets me apart from others.”

Warm Ways, oil, 10 x 12

Many of Goldberg’s earlier works were of the mountains and lakes of Montana, but moving to southern Arizona gave him perspective on the vistas, the monsoon clouds, and the colorful sunrises and sunsets. His painting WARM WAYS is a small studio work derived from a reference of a place close to his Arizona home. He explains, “I have been really excited about the surrounding landscape and this painting in particular was painted in the late afternoon as the sun was starting to set. I feel I was really able to capture the nice warm light, subtle warm and cool color shifts between the shadow and light, all the while creating the illusion of infinite detail with a minimal amount of brushstrokes.”

Currently Goldberg is building a straw bale home and studio outside of Bisbee, and believes the new surroundings will continue to have an impact on his work. —Rochelle Belsito

contact information
kadingoldberg.com

Representation
A. Banks Gallery, Missoula, MT, abanksgallery.com.
Belleza Gallery, Bisbee, AZ, gallerybelleza.com.
Heist Art & Sundries, Red Lodge, MT.

This story appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.