Jack Goldstein was a Canadian born, California-based performance and conceptual artist. Born on September 27, 1945 in Montreal, Canada, Jack Goldstein was an important member of the 1980s New York art scene.

Goldstein moved as a boy to Los Angeles, California. He was one of the first graduates of CalArts and was a member of the inaugural class of the California Institute of the Arts, where he worked under John Baldessari until 1972. Jack moved from California to New York in the early seventies.  His works were exhibited in New York at Metro Pictures at this time, as well as John Weber Gallery and other galleries in America and Europe. As a conceptual artist who produced experimental films and their audio equivalent on vinyl records, Goldstein divided his time between Los Angeles and New York City during the 1970s, eventually becoming an important figure of the Pictures Group, which received primary recognition at Artist's Space in New York City in the fall of 1977. During the 1980s art boom, Goldstein began to produce paintings in earnest. He would eventually make his name through "salon paintings"-- art works designed to be sold to the very rich and to secure his place in the history of art. Goldstein's paintings were based on photographic images of natural phenomena, science, and technology--the result of his intention to produce "the spectacular instant" through photographic means.  The demand for "salon paintings" decreased as the decade progressed, leading Goldstein to leave New York in the early 1990s to return to California where he lived in relative isolation.

Goldstein's early work was revisited by critics and the artist himself in the early 2000s, allowing his work to regain critical attention. He was featured in the 2004 Whitney Biennial as a major film influence alongside Stan Brakhage, less than a year after he tragically hung himself in San Bernardino, California on March 14, 2003.