Uriel Goldberg — Monotypes

Traces — 2025–2026

Prints pulled from cardboard plates on which the image is built from applied matter — adhesive tape layered and torn; each sheet records the relief of folds and bindings, unrepeatable. Black and carmine printing ink on BFK Rives wove paper.

Trace I, diptych, black ink monotype — *Trace I (diptych)*, 2025 — monotype, black printing ink, 50 × 65 cm each

Trace II, suspension, black ink monotype — *Trace II (suspension)*, 2025 — monotype, black ink on BFK Rives paper, 50 × 65 cm

Trace III, triptych, black ink monotype — *Trace III (triptych)*, 2025 — monotype, black ink, three panels, 50 × 65 cm each

Trace IV, standing figure, black and carmine ink monotype — *Trace IV (figure)*, 2026 — monotype, black and carmine ink on BFK Rives paper, 50 × 65 cm

Trace V, veiled figure, black and carmine ink monotype — *Trace V (veil)*, 2026 — monotype, black and carmine ink on BFK Rives paper, 50 × 65 cm

Carmine — 2026

A single blood-red pigment on grounds that recall Pompeian frescoes — memory as a stain that outlives its wall.

Carmine I, horizon, carmine ink monotype — *Carmine I (horizon)*, 2026 — monotype, carmine ink on wove paper, 50 × 65 cm

Carmine II, Pompeii, carmine ink monotype — *Carmine II (Pompeii)*, 2026 — monotype, carmine ink, fresco ground, 50 × 65 cm

Carmine III, codex, carmine ink monotype — *Carmine III (codex)*, 2026 — monotype, carmine ink, vertical bands, 50 × 65 cm

Carmine IV, silhouette, carmine ink monotype — *Carmine IV (silhouette)*, 2026 — monotype, carmine ink, 50 × 65 cm

Carmine V, chrysalis, carmine ink monotype — *Carmine V (chrysalis)*, 2026 — monotype, carmine ink, 50 × 65 cm

Constellations — 2025

Lyrical drips and vertical rains of black ink — writing before the alphabet.

Constellation I, black ink monotype — *Constellation I*, 2025 — monotype, black printing ink, 50 × 65 cm

Constellation II, vertical, black ink monotype — *Constellation II (vertical)*, 2025 — monotype, black ink, 50 × 65 cm

Constellation III, downpour, black ink monotype — *Constellation III (downpour)*, 2025 — monotype, black ink, 50 × 65 cm

Horizon I, black ink monotype, landscape format — *Horizon I*, 2025 — monotype, black printing ink, 50 × 65 cm

Glyphs — 2025

Repeated invented signs, like a script whose readers have vanished — after Henri Michaux.

Glyph I (palimpsest), 2025 — monotype, black ink, 38 × 56 cm

Glyph II (vocabulary), 2025 — monotype, black ink, 50 × 65 cm

Figures — 2001–2018

Earlier work: the standing figure, printed and reprinted through successive passes — each sheet a station of the same absent body, sometimes accompanied by its ghost print. Black printing ink, with veils of carmine, violet or ochre.

Figure I, standing figure, black ink monotype — *Figure I*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black printing ink on paper

Figure II, standing figure with vertical striations, black ink monotype — *Figure II*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, striated ground

Figure III, standing figure with carmine bands, monotype — *Figure III*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink and carmine bands

Figure IV, faint figure, ghost print, monotype — *Figure IV (ghost print)*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, second pass

Figure V, figure with ochre and orange bands, monotype — *Figure V*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, ochre and orange

Figure VI, dense dark figure, black ink monotype — *Figure VI*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, dense ground

Figure VII, figure with violet bands, monotype — *Figure VII*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink and violet

Figure VIII, figure with red bands on pale green ground, monotype — *Figure VIII*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink and red on pale ground

Figure IX, figure with red vertical streak, monotype — *Figure IX*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink and red streak

Figure X, faint figure, ghost print, monotype — *Figure X (ghost print)*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, second pass

Figure XI, figure with grey and ochre bands, monotype — *Figure XI*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, grey and ochre

Assemblies — 2001–2018

The figure multiplied — groups, friezes and processions, in single sheets, diptychs and triptychs. Black printing ink, occasional carmine.

Assembly I, five figures in rows, black ink monotype — *Assembly I*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black printing ink on paper

Assembly II, dense group of figures, black ink monotype — *Assembly II*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, dense ground

Assembly III, figures on light and dark panels, black ink monotype — *Assembly III*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, light and dark grounds

Assembly IV, figures with carmine blocks, monotype — *Assembly IV*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink and carmine

Assembly V, long frieze of small figures, black ink monotype — *Assembly V (frieze)*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, horizontal frieze

Assembly VI, figures with round shields, black ink monotype — *Assembly VI*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink on paper

Assembly VII, figures with black and carmine masses, monotype — *Assembly VII*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink and carmine

Assembly VIII, figures in pink and violet field, monotype — *Assembly VIII*, 2001–2018 — monotype, carmine and violet field

Assembly IX, diptych, two panels with figures, monotype — *Assembly IX (diptych)*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, two panels

Assembly X, triptych, three faint figures, monotype — *Assembly X (triptych)*, 2001–2018 — monotype, black ink, three panels

Waters — 2001–2026

Colour monotypes of water and horizon — the first appearance of the landscape that returns in the current Waters series (2026, studio).

Water I, blue horizon, colour monotype — *Water I (blue)*, 2022 — monotype, blue inks on paper

Water II, turquoise wave, colour monotype — *Water II (turquoise)*, 2022 — monotype, turquoise and black inks

Water III, carmine waves, colour monotype — *Water III (carmine)*, 2001–2018 — monotype, carmine ink, horizontal waves

Statement

My monotypes are imprints: the passage of torn paper, layered tape, a fragment of matter through the press leaves a trace that I will never reproduce. I look for the threshold between presence and disappearance — the moment when a silhouette dissolves into its imprint, when an imprint opens into a landscape. Black printer's ink, carmine and, more recently, deep blue all serve the same gesture: to reveal through subtraction, to let the paper breathe around the trace.

My practice circles a simple question: what is an image when it no longer represents, but bears witness? The monotype — a single, unrepeatable impression — is the exact instrument of that inquiry. On the plate, I arrange found or chosen matter. The press flattens it onto vellum and lets its shadow pass into the ink. What remains is neither drawing nor photograph: it is a testimony, and the witness is already gone.

When enough ink remains on the plate after the first pass, a second, fainter impression can sometimes be pulled: the ghost print (épreuve fantôme) — paler, already a memory of the first image. I work with these ghosts and with successive passes to build zones of transparency and palimpsest.

About

Uriel Goldberg (b. 1971, Paris) lives and works in Paris. Trained at the Art Students League of New York (1997–2000), he mostly works in monotype on BFK Rives wove paper. His current body of work (2025–2026) comprises works in five series. His work has been shown at the Grand Palais, Paris (Figuration Critique, 1988), at Ahra Lee Gallery, New York (solo show, 1998) and at Le Mur, Paris (solo show, 2008). He is an alumnus of the 2014 Asylum Arts international retreat.

Contact

Studio visits by appointment, Paris.

contact@urielgoldberg.com

Instagram — @uriel.goldberg