Gold

The entire material practice of artmaking revolves around the tempering and manipulation of light— whether with an illusion through paint and color or with the physical medium and its sculptural qualities— but when an artist takes it a step further, utilizing the refracting, luminescent nature of gold itself, it leads to something very exciting, transcending the mundane planes of a canvas and veritably breaking through the barrier that stands between the viewer and the artist’s vision. Gold as a color represents the sunlight, a symbol that is probably the single oldest symbol in the history of humanity, hidden amongst the origins of even the Sanskrit letterforms of written language. It is a concept that is at the very heart, so to speak, of our understanding of the world around us, and consequently of ourselves.

Whether used casually for fun, or with resoundingly meaningful purpose, gold carries a powerful message, a torch that refracts outward, transferring the artist's pure intention directly to us, and almost bypassing the middleman of our rational deconstruction. This in a way allows for a viewing experience that is the shortest distance between two points— the medium transmits the message, not just shedding light but practically manufacturing it.

Probably one of the best known and most beloved uses of gold in modern painting could be Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss— a universal subject matter that every living human can identify with. The painting is in fact mostly gold, to near dizzying effect, alluding to the intoxicating atmosphere that can exist around this vibrant human experience. This 33-inch square piece is a first edition print published for a retrospective of Klimt’s work at the Osterreiche Galerie in Austria in 1982.