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.