Albert Irvin and John Golding: Celebrating 10 Years at Kings Place

Albert Irvin and John Golding: Celebrating 10 Years at Kings Place was an exhibition showcasing two of the most distinctive abstract painters active in Britain since 1945. In 2008 an exhibition dedicated to Irvin’s work opened Kings Place. In 2018 he returned, alongside John Golding his contemporary and fellow Abstract Expressionist.

Considered together, Golding and Irvin’s work from the 1980s to 2000s reflects the longterm impact of Abstract Expressionism on British shores. Both artists were profoundly influenced by The New American Painting, an exhibition held at Tate Gallery in 1959 and the first substantial showing of many prominent Abstract Expressionists in the UK. Golding and Irvin expanded the creative model they inherited from across the Atlantic. Both developed an entirely unique style of remarkable integrity and diversity intended to express, as Irvin wrote, “the experience of being in the world.”

In relation to Albert Irvin and John Golding, David Anfam gave a talk at the British Art Fair on Thursday 20 September. Speaking about Golding's work in relation to Caro/Golding: In Conversation, the talk introduced the topic of post-war abstraction in Britain. Anfam was acquainted with John Golding and worked as a writer and curator in this field for several decades.

The first major retrospective of Irvin’s work was held at the Royal West of England Academy from 8th December 2018 – 3rd March 2019.