tek-spresh-uh-niz-uhm
- An artistic approach in which technology is utilized as a means to express emotional experience.
- An international community of artists working with technology.
Origin
Colin Goldberg first used the word Techspressionism in 2011, as the title of a solo exhibition at 4 North Main Gallery in Southampton, New York. He used it to describe paintings that combine gestural brushwork with digital drawing. In 2014 he wrote a short manifesto, and Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in East Hampton published an exhibition catalogue with a foreword by the art historian Helen A. Harrison. That year a WIRED article referred to Techspressionism as an art movement.
The Community
In 2020, four founding artists (Colin Goldberg, Oz Van Rosen, Steve Miller, Patrick Lichty) and an advisor (Helen A. Harrison, then director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center) began meeting online to discuss technology as a means of emotional expression. Those conversations became monthly salons, open to any artist who identifies with the idea. There are no dues.
The community’s first large-scale in-person group exhibition, Techspressionism: Digital and Beyond, opened at Southampton Arts Center on April 23, 2022. Curated by Goldberg, with an introductory essay by Helen A. Harrison, it brought together work by more than 90 artists from over 20 countries, including paintings, sculpture, prints, installations, digital still images, time-based works and NFTs, along with a looping exhibition reel and a printed catalogue. Group exhibitions have since been held at the Kingsborough Art Museum in Brooklyn (2024), Hudson Guild Gallery in New York (2025), 150 Media Stream in Chicago (2025), the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (2025) and the Contemporary Art Museum of Uzbekistan in Urgench, Uzbekistan (2025).
Key Facts
- Term first used: 2011, solo exhibition title, 4 North Main Gallery, Southampton, New York
- Manifesto and catalogue: 2014. Catalogue published by Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, foreword by Helen A. Harrison
- First described as a movement: WIRED, October 2014
- Community founded: 2020, with four founding artists (Colin Goldberg, Oz Van Rosen, Steve Miller, Patrick Lichty) and an advisor (Helen A. Harrison)
- Membership: open and self-identified; no dues
- Monthly salons: since September 1, 2020; more than 110 held
- Visual Artists Index: 460 artists from 50 countries
- #techspressionism: more than 87,000 Instagram posts
- First large-scale in-person group exhibition: Techspressionism: Digital and Beyond, Southampton Arts Center, opened April 23, 2022. Curated by Colin Goldberg; more than 90 artists from over 20 countries
- First museum exhibition outside the United States: Contemporary Art Museum of Uzbekistan, Urgench, Uzbekistan, 2025
Figures as of September 2026, from techspressionism.com.
Goldberg’s Work
In Goldberg’s own practice, the idea takes the form of layering. A painting may begin as acrylic dragged across linen with a taping knife, then be photographed, redrawn digitally and printed back onto the same surface, several times over. Some works carry a further layer: an animation, sometimes with sound, that appears when the painting is viewed through a phone.
Selected Coverage
- WIRED, “If Picasso Had a MacBook Pro,” October 2014
- Hamptons Art Hub, Eric Ernst, “‘Techspressionism’ Reflects Impact of Japanese Aesthetics,” 2014
- 27east, Annette Hinkle, “Techspressionism: A Global Movement With Local Roots,” April 2022
- The East Hampton Star, Mark Segal, “Expressive Technology in Southampton,” April 2022
- Whitehot Magazine, Coco Dolle, “Four Techspressionist Artists present on Chicago’s Largest Public Digital Display,” April 2025
(Headlines are the publications’ own wording.)
The community’s exhibitions, salon recordings, artist index and manifesto are at techspressionism.com.