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Glenn Goldberg’s “Empyrean” prints are monochromatic etchings with aquatint that employ delicate brushwork, intricate stippling, and layered tonal fields to create images that feel both graphic and quietly meditative. The title “Empyrean” refers to the highest heaven or celestial realm in ancient cosmologies, suggesting a space of light, elevation, and contemplation.
The Empyrean prints feature recurring motifs of birds, floral forms, and abstracted natural elements, organized around central anchors and rendered in rich tones of black and gray. Goldberg has described his work as driven by an interest in structure, hierarchies, and moods found in nature, even though his images are invented rather than painted directly from observation. His process is slow, layered, and meticulous, emphasizing patience, attention, and a kind of “quiet intensity” in the act of creating.
“I’m interested in making images that are both orderly and fragile,” Goldberg notes. “The birds, plants, and marks are less about depicting nature and more about creating a place where attention can slow down and quiet things can be felt.”
There are three prints in the series, all etchings with aquatint, hand-printed in black ink on 27 x 20 inch Somerset Velvet Soft White paper in limited editions of twenty impressions. The image size is 18 x 12 inches. The prints are published by and available from Manneken Press.
