back to About

Artist Statement 
Pearl Rosen Golden

Two very different environments have guided the subject matter of my artwork - the Long Beach, New York barrier island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and the lush temperate rainforest environment of Seattle, Washington. They have inspired a deeper look into the science and imagery of the natural patterns found along the ocean, in plants, and in the forest vegetation.

My literal representation of the landscape has slowly evolved to imagery that is closer to abstraction. This direction has advanced in my work out of an interest to pursue particular expressive qualities that are found in nature. I am looking for a tenacious growth energy found in vegetation, the power and influence of water, and the diversity of forms and textures, especially in the forest. This focus in my work began about  2017 and has gone through several evolutions. Currently, my style concentrates on more expressive characteristics that match the energy that I see. My upcoming solo exhibition, titled "The Path of Water," will showcase this transition toward abstraction, running from February 25 to March 22, 2025, at Prince Street Gallery in New York. This exhibition will highlight my shift in imagery and change in mediums. Most prominent is my transition from the use of gouache paint in a natural toned palette, to fluid acrylic ink in a more vibrant palette, which may also include iridescent colors.

The experience of switching mediums was in some ways profound. Working with new mediums, Bombay ink and acrylic ink colors, resulted in significant changes. I left more traditional painting techniques and started using a water-filled syringe along with drops of ink as a way to build surface colors and textures.  In that watery process I developed a new appreciation for the beauty of the shapes of water and their natural consistency. One of the most curious aspects of the water is that it coalesed to make a river-like puddle on my paper. Changing the river or stopping it from forming was a struggle. In this river, the qualities of water I observed on paper made me realize how the world was put together. The way the magnetism in the water can create rivers that carve the earth in a process that spreads water and creates life.  I was seeing that force and intention of water right in front of me.  When I tried to exert pressure to move the river with my air pump, I consistently created the same shapes as those of roots, branches, and veins. These shapes from water are symbolically the fabric of life. The symbols represent forms that in reality each carry water and nutrients to support our structure of life. This experience was inspirational and has moved me to continue to explore the use of water with fluid mediums.  Now I have in my work habits what I call a partnership with water. The water informs me, and I guide the water especially where I create a work in an expressive realist style.  I am at the very beginning of this new process that has the potential for an expansive interpretation of nature - one of reaching into realism and releasing into abstraction.

Painting the natural landscape is at the heart of who I am as a painter. For many years I only painted in Plein air, especially with oil paint.  That experience is the basis for all my work going forward even as I am propelled to explore various new mediums with intensity. My works reflect an inner yearning for imagery of places I am passionate about, and to present them in some ways in a purer essence.