Born in 1971 with both Jewish and Mexican roots, Josh Goldstein has long reveled in walking the line between divergent worlds. His life began in Indiana, but he maintained a well-documented obsession with New York City until he finally moved there at the age of 23. Once in the city, he quickly began soaking in its cultural stew. He studied architecture at Pratt Institute, made rugelach at a subterranean bakery in Little Italy, worked at a few architectural firms, and co-hosted a public-access TV show about downtown life. Whenever he had a free moment he explored the city by bike.

On these rides Goldstein photographed everything from Chinese fishmongers and Jamaican patty stands to graffiti and manhole covers. But it was the classic New York City bodega that especially caught his attention in the early years. He was riveted by the bodegas' bright colors, bold graphics, and rotating set of key words, as well as by their entrepreneurial spirit.

Josh creates art that encourages the viewer to engage with the chaos and density of New York City. Those menus slipped under the door; the tags and graffiti covering the local deli; the newspapers left behind on the train and littering the sidewalk; the daily bombardment of storefront signs. These might otherwise seem like a strenuous test to one’s inner zen, but he elevates them to the level of indigenous icons. The soul of New York City resonates in the cacophony of divergent wants, needs, and desires, of its citizens, both past and present, all crammed together in a seemingly uncaring urban landscape. Overlapping functions, intermingling histories, and colliding cultures work together to create strange and ambiguous new relationships. It is this frenetic layering that inspires his work. Taking what the city gives him, he turns up the volume even higher, depicting not an unlivable urban environment, but rather a richly colored, deeply layered tapestry constructed of images from the street that New Yorkers encounter (and struggle with) every day, but rarely see.

Recently, Target commissioned Goldstein to conceive three billboards in Times Square totaling 6000 square feet. His multi-paneled collages hang at the corporate headquarters of Vitamin Water and Credit Suisse First Boston, in the main branch of the Bronx Public Library, and at WNYC's Greene Space, as well as numerous private collections throughout the United States and Europe.

Wing Fat (shmear) -52x54, Mixed media photo collage on salvaged plywood, 2010. $4,500.