Lester Goldman, professor of painting at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1966 to his death in 2005,
abandoned figurative portraiture for more playful abstract experimentation: electric colors, sweeping
lines, personal and political symbols, and a variety of media from sculpture to performance.
He was interested in the complexities and paradoxes of the human condition, depicting
human body parts as organic machines; delving into palindromes and wordplay;
and using form and color to communicate profound emotions.

“My whole life depends on my work… I have to dig deeper. It is demanded of me,
by me and by others. Paintings are read by painters the way people read people
through their children. It’s not what you wish to have one see, but what is.“

Lester Goldman, 1942 – 2005