Artforum says of Kenneth Goldsmith's hybrid of poetry, music and visual art that "Goldsmith's work reverses the art-for-art's sake endgame practiced by language artists in the 60's and makes the language-of-power appropriators of the 70's and 80's seem a little constipated ... By putting a unique spin on the rap technique of sampling, Goldsmith provides a tantalizing snapshot of the zeitgeist."
Goldsmith has widely exhibited his work in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe. Selected recent shows have included the John Post Lee Gallery in New York City, Galerie Metropole in Austria, The List Center for the Visual Arts at MIT in Boston, The Drawing Center in New York City, The Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive for Concrete and Visual Poetry in Miami Beach, and Sue Spaid Fine Art in Los Angeles. He is represented by the John Post Lee Gallery in New York City.
He has received grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, Artist's Space Artist Grant, and a Residency Fellowship from the Banff Center for the Arts.
He has collaborated with Cheryl Donegan in performances at Franklin Furnace, BACA Downtown, P.S. 122, The Knitting Factory, and The Banff Center for the Arts. In addition he has given readings of his texts at 303 Gallery, 101 Thompson Street, and The Sculpture Center, WNYC. Current and future collaborations include: A text-based couture clothing collaboration with New York City fashion designer Sylvia Heisel, which was featured in February 1993 Vogue, collaborative illustrations for a book of poetry, Tizzy Boost, by L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Poet Bruce Andrews, to be published by The Figures (summer 1993), and a multi-media collaboration with the San Francisco-based composer Sam Ashley.
Goldsmith lives in lower Manhattan with his wife, video artist and painter Cheryl Donegan, and the Boxer, Babette.