Golden Lore III by Russell Frampton

more about material: metallic leaf, acrylic, collage with ink on canvas

This recent body of work is informed by my continuing research into the physical and metaphorical nature of archaeological artefacts and votive objects, allied to the referencing of the symbolic forms and materiality of alchemy. Central to this practical investigation has been the use of ‘gold’, and the qualities that the material, with its obvious chromatic and symbolic values, seems to possess. This has driven both the conceptual and pragmatic concerns within the evolution of this work. Gold is an alluring and complex symbol of many, often conflicting meanings, avarice, greed, wealth but also of purity and celebration, and has been used as the adornment of spiritual and religious iconography as a devotional act for millennia.