randian | 燃点

Marlborough is pleased to present Thunderstruck, a new series of paintings by Pamela Golden inspired by both real and imagined images of Iraq from the past and present. Thunderstruck, the title of the exhibition, is taken from the AC/DC song American soldiers played whilst bombing in the Iraq War. The titles of the works are drawn from both names of specific battles, and from heavy metal songs that were played during the raids on Iraq.

In this series Golden explores a complex array of themes, including notions of the “Other”, the “Exotic” and “Orientalism”. Here Golden harks back to Delacroix’s use of photography and painting to describe cultures foreign to him. Her work is also concerned with our current crises: Climate Change and the complex aspects of man vs man and man vs nature.

The works both mesmerize and surprise the viewer. They can be considered as a channel to propose questions about our shared contemporary and problematic dynamics of how we perceive the world through mediated sources. These large-scale paintings will be shown alongside smaller paintings of flowers that bloom at night primarily propagated by bats.

Golden’s work explores the generational relationships to imagery and visual culture considering how associations adapt and alter over time. There are inherent cultural anxieties around aspects of visual culture particularly images of conflict, Golden exposes these and therefore the universal concerns of the human psyche. These cross-temporal paintings question how we assign value to an image and the reimagination of her source materials- film stills, photographs – allow Golden to manipulate the viewer’s experience, uncovering hidden truths and revealing new narratives through her works.A catalogue accompanies the exhibition with an introduction by Indian-American author and professor of creative writing Akhil Sharma.

This exhibition of new works by Pamela Golden marks her third solo show with the gallery. Born in Chicago in 1959, Golden has lived and worked in the UK since 1989; her own cross-cultural experience informs much of her work.

Golden has exhibited extensively for over 30 years throughout Europe and America, with solo shows including Charlie Don’t Surf and Good Morning Mister Williams at Marlborough, London (2015 and 2014); Auction Paintings, World Legend, Lisbon (2013); Love and Hysteria, Fondacion Elektra, Paris (2007-2008) and Nothing Personal, Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2004). She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago between 1974-78, returning to complete an MFA in 1984, and recently received a Certificate of Botanical Art at The English Gardening School.