Golden Family:Matt Golden

Thirty Three Revolutions encompasses two bodies of work: Constellations, a series of framed historic photographs depicting high-jumpers in mid-air and named in accordance with their visual or narrative resemblance to one of the Constellations; and Thirty-Three Revolutions, a collection of antique marching-drums, kit-drums and their accessories assembled to depict a ‘procession of characters’.

Both sets of work take inspiration from the artists’ move from London to rural England, whereby they began regular ‘family night walks’, taking-in the vast array of visible stars within their new panoramic view. While the drums, in-part reference Matt’s father, a professional drummer, who lived with them during the last few years of his life before recently passing away and leaving Matt two drum kits.

The identity and nature of these marching figures is not immediately evident. What is their ‘cause’? Where are they heading? With a seeming array of human emotions on display they ask why we gather together. Why do we beat drums? A collective ‘heart beat’ perhaps. To rouse a revolution, maybe? Or perhaps these figures march to a more personal pulse, a family and friends saying their final farewell and an age-old way of marking the passing of a loved one.

By association the high-jumping figures in the ‘constellation’ photos take on the aura of bodies ascending from the physical to a more celestial state, taking our human desires for progress: to jump ever-higher; live ever-longer; and our search for place and belonging through-out the ages, in finding meaning in the position of the stars; or through folk songs and music and marching.

A further stand-alone piece is a collaboration between the artists and the author Samuel Fisher. In a back-and-forth between them, Fisher has responded to the artworks in written-form, which in-turn has been burned through the skin of a folk drum, playing on the invention of the ‘Riddle drum’, whereby rural folk appropriated agricultural riddle sieves, used for winnowing corn, repurposing them as makeshift frame drums for traditional English folk music. Instead of burning holes in goat skin to separate the wheat from the chaff, the artists have burned Fisher’s words through skin, allowing his insightful response and concise prose to pass.

Golden Family are Matt Golden (b.1974 Salisbury, England) and Natsue Ikeda (b.1976, Hiroshima, Japan). They live and work between London and rural Northamptonshire. This is their second solo exhibition at Pi Artworks.

Pi Artworks London is proud to present A Pony / A Bridge / Mountain / Rain, the first solo exhibition at the gallery by Golden Family (Natsue and Matt Golden)....