Gilded Echo

Gilded Echo (2021) by Berend Strik combines two concepts: gilding — the ancient technique of applying thin sheets of gold leaf to surfaces — and echo, the persistence of sound after its source has stopped.

Gilded surfaces have been associated with divinity and luxury since antiquity — from Byzantine church mosaics to Baroque altarpieces to the gilded frames of Renaissance paintings. To gild something is to elevate it, to make it shine with the light of the sun.

The echo suggests something that persists beyond its origin — a sound that continues after its source has stopped, a trace of something that once was present. Strik's textile interventions into photographs could be seen as "gilded echoes" — additions that make the original image shine while also being traces of the original.

The combination of gilding and echo suggests both the permanence of art and its inevitable fading — gold endures, but echoes fade.

Sources: Galerie Fons Welters