Jerry Gotkin

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1936, Jerry spent the majority of his career working alongside his wife, Marjorie, who was already an established New York artist and teacher when they first met in 1961. Together, they were represented by Panoras Gallery in Manhattan for over 20 years, as well as numerous galleries throughout New York City, Massachusetts and Florida.

In the mid-1970s, Jerry was commissioned for a series of oil paintings for offices at the landmark Sperry-Rand Building in New York City. In 2007 the Smithsonian Institution American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery Library in Washington, DC established the “Marjorie and Jerry Gotkin Collection 1965-2007.” In addition to featuring a catalog of paintings, reproductions, biographies, exhibitions reviews, sales, two portfolios, and art books of the couple’s paintings – the Smithsonian is cross-referencing the Gotkins within, “Artists Couples” – listing them among notable collaborative couples, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams, as well as Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

“Each series of works, like each work itself, reaches its own conclusion,” explains Jerry Gotkin during a recent discussion at VFA. “It’s not a conscious decision made by the artist.” When it comes to describing particular categorizations of style, the artist politely declines, suggesting that, “Art is best contemplated by the observer.”

One must always apologize for talking about painting.
– Poet Paul Valery

Over the past decades, Jerry Gotkin has produced a vast assortment of compelling works, seemingly without allowing himself to “fall into” an established niche. Viewing the artist’s decades of productivity, one may be inclined to view Gotkin’s work as subject driven, leading the artist to deploy those processes required to produce his interpretations.