Golden Pond (2016) is exceedingly nostalgic. It depicts the time Nina Pryde spent with her daughter, trekking forests and moving past swans in ponds. The beautiful landscape is highlighted by...
Golden Pond (2016) is exceedingly nostalgic. It depicts the time Nina Pryde spent with her daughter, trekking forests and moving past swans in ponds. The beautiful landscape is highlighted by the golden overlay on the pond and mountains which represents the reflection of the glorious and celestial sunset. The serene and still waters represent the artist’s calm state of mind as she recalls the peaceful moments she shared with her young daughter. Unbeknownst to the viewer, the landscape depicted is in England. Pryde astutely uses traditional Chinese ink painting techniques to portray a foreign scenery, subverting the viewer’s expectations. The lack of delineation and painterly detail results in this outcome.
This is one of the few artworks that do not include Pryde’s trademark collage of photographic segments blended into calligraphic painting. Pryde admits that this work signifies a return to her roots, albeit only temporarily. The absence of photographs with build-ings, people or animals emphasises on the artist’s non-figurative and reductionist approach. It can also be said that this painting does not use the collage method because it is a rough sketch and study of the artist’s mental reflection. The obliterating and casual brush-work reveals the artist’s experimental process. The loose, languid and primitive forms recall the Prehistoric cave paintings from Al-tamira in Spain and Lascaux in France. Such painterly quality produces an outcome that is highly emotive, one that reflects the art-ist’s spirituality and sense of self. For the Chinese, visual realism , also known as “xing si” or form-likeness, was only a means to serve its “shen si” or “spiritual-likeness”. This can truly be said about Golden Pond (2016). It captures the artist’s longing for a pre-cious and treasured past experience she had with her daughter. In the artist’s mind, only her and her daughter exist in this space.