Sculpting HIV: Positive Artist Daniel Goldstein Makes Haunting "Ghost Houses"

The San Francisco Chronicle profiled local artist Daniel Goldstein, an HIV-positive sculptor who creates artistic "ghost houses" -- towering memorials made of moving parts and permeable spaces that celebrate the lives of friends he lost to HIV/AIDS.

Prior to creating these ghost houses, Goldstein, who was diagnosed in the early 1980s, was successful making woodblock prints. But when his partner of 10 years passed away from complications related to AIDS in 1986, Goldstein left his lucrative business and changed media.

While this work can be tiresome, he told the Chronicle, "It's meditative, it's therapeutic. It's also nice to wake up in the morning and know exactly what I'm going to do."

At this year's International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Goldstein's sculptures were on display. Using everyday HIV-related objects, he was able to create sculptures that seek to renew the vision of the "positive experience." One piece, called "Medicine Man," is a human form made up of HIV pill bottles Goldstein had been collecting since the early 1990s. Its counterpart, "Invisible Man," is a human silhouette formed by hanging 864 needle syringes.

See videos of Daniel Goldstein's work.

Warren Tong is TheBody.com's editorial assistant.

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