By David Masello. Portrait by Dwayne Newton.

DESCRIPTION OF WORK
Every artist needs a boilerplate response to that constantly asked question: "What is your work like?" "I say I paint figures and landscapes," says Stanley Goldstein, "but those figures are involved in their own lives in some way, whether at work or at play." Although Goldstein says he is a voyeur of the lives of strangers, he often can be found (with easel) in the middle of a crowded San Francisco beach, poolside at a swim party or in the field of a working farm with cows. "People often come up and see what I'm doing, even offer to pose for me." Indeed, when Goldstein comes upon a scene that engages him, he sets up his canvas and paints in the midst of it, focusing on a person (or cow, depending on the setting) "who establishes credentials. I target one figure who is compelling. Sometimes I feel like a hunter stalking prey."

METHOD OF WORK
Goldstein has solved the chief conundrum presented by his favorite subject matter. Because he is intent on capturing people as they live through moments of their daily lives, he has had to find a way to preserve those fleeting moments. For his beach paintings, he works quickly to capture as much as he can on-site. "I'll go back on the same kind of day at the same time and resume the work, if necessary," he notes. "Sometimes, I'll do composites of people." He has also started using a video camera. "I use video to get images I wouldn't get otherwise-that would be lost because they exist for only the space of a single frame of film." He might videotape events from an apartment window or street corner, not knowing until later what he has captured. "I then look for something disarming, unusual, mysterious. I'll make a sketch from that and decide if it's worthy to paint."

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