(PNAN-MS) – As one of the largest river systems in North American, the Mississippi River, over 2,300 miles long, beginning in at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, stopping by a river below New Orleans where it restarts it flow into the Gulf of Mexico, continues to balance its exploration in an exhibition, “River and Reverie: Paintings of the Mississippi by Rolland Golden” at the Mississippi Museum of Art through January 16, 2011.
Now living in Natchez, Mississippi, Golden was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and for the last five decades, has traveled extensively across the country and beyond painting the people and places that he’s seen. With the support of the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz, Steve Edds, a shareholder with the firm expressed, “It is always a privilege for our firm to sponsor an exhibition so rich in culture and scope, especially one that provides the public an opportunity to explore and reflect on the Mississippi region.”
The collection on view, all from different vantage points and times of day, consists of 45 paintings reminds viewers that each experience of the River is individual, one of a kind, like a painting of the ethereal misty dawn, trees with Spanish moss set against the expansiveness of the water, is set alongside that of a fiery sunset, the dying sunlight lighting up the river like napalm. Again, the void of human presence in the works sparks a self-interpretation of this mighty waterway in its service to all life forms.
Artist Golden’s works, which he completed between 2009 and 2010, are artistic striking expressions marking his homecoming in this first solo show of works in the series. They not only forges his connection to the Mississippi River, but also clearly defines for the viewer the simple surface beauty of the riverscapes, those that do not yield; moreover, provoking emotion like in a work where a young Mark Twain and a ship melts into the distance of the river as well as in another, the same shape is an island, holding stead while the current passes around its eroding sides.
For more information about this exhibition, see www.msmuseumart.org or call 601.960.1515 or toll free 1-866-VIEW-ART (843-9278), or see: www.rollandgolden.com.
