Golden Girl

Golden Girl is a figurative portrait in acrylic on canvas, completed in 2010. The work belongs to a strain of Viviers' practice focused on the female figure, intimate, close-framed, and executed in a palette that runs almost entirely through warm gold, amber and deep shadow. The subject meets the viewer's eye directly and without apology; her gaze carries the quiet self-possession that characterises Viviers' strongest portrait work. A delicate necklace and the dark strap of a garment anchors the figure in the physical while the painterly background, rich, loose brushwork in layered dark gold, keeps the composition in the register of mood rather than literal depiction. The title is both a description of the painting's tonal world and something warmer: an act of affirmation. Golden Girl is one of the more striking figurative works from Viviers' early career and is available for acquisition.