From Jamaica to New Jersey, artist Jay Golding explores mythology, family history, storytelling, and identity through paintings, sculpture, music, and world-building.
Some artists create individual artworks.
Others create entire universes.
When I sat down with artist Jay Golding following his residency at Mana Contemporary’s ESAF Residency Program, it became clear that his work extends far beyond painting. Through a combination of mythology, personal history, travel experiences, and cultural research, Golding is building an interconnected world populated by characters, symbols, stories, and histories that continue evolving across multiple mediums.
Born in Jamaica and raised in the United States after immigrating at the age of seven, Golding’s creative journey began long before he considered becoming a professional artist.
Like many artists, his first inspirations came from childhood.
Comic books, Pokémon, superheroes, and hours spent drawing characters sparked a passion for image-making. Yet becoming an artist was never part of a grand plan.
“It was simply something I enjoyed doing,” he explained.
That enjoyment eventually led him to study art, first at Essex County College and later at Kean University, where mentors helped shape his artistic development and encouraged him to pursue his creative voice.
The Importance of Storytelling
One of the most fascinating aspects of Golding’s practice is his commitment to storytelling.
Rather than treating paintings as isolated objects, he views them as pieces of a much larger narrative.
Over the past decade, he has developed a growing universe of fictional characters, symbols, histories, and mythologies that appear throughout his work.
Many of these stories began with a simple theater mask.
Years ago, Golding became fascinated by a mask owned by a friend’s partner. He began photographing himself wearing it, sketching it, and eventually incorporating it into his artwork.
Over time, the mask evolved into a central symbol connected to a fictional character named Aman.
Today, that symbol continues appearing throughout his work, serving as a visual thread connecting different narratives within his artistic universe.
“You Dropped This”
One of the most personal works discussed during our conversation was a painting featuring Golding’s nephew, Ken.
The piece shows the young boy running across a lush green landscape while holding the symbolic mask in his hand.
Titled You Dropped This, the painting operates on multiple levels.
At first glance, it appears to be a touching portrait of childhood.
But beneath the surface lies a deeper reflection on identity, growth, family lineage, and personal transformation.
The landscape itself was inspired by a trip to Jamaica, representing ancestry, heritage, and connection to place.
The mask symbolizes an earlier chapter of Golding’s artistic journey, while his nephew becomes both a reflection of childhood and a messenger carrying something important back to the artist.
What makes the work particularly compelling is its openness to interpretation.
As we discussed the painting, it became clear that viewers often bring their own narratives into the piece, creating new meanings that coexist alongside the artist’s original intentions.
Family History and Cultural Memory
Golding’s work frequently draws inspiration from African, Caribbean, and Indigenous traditions.
During his residency, he created several mixed-media works inspired by cultural ceremonies and traditions from West Africa.
One series explored imagery connected to the Dan people of Côte d’Ivoire, incorporating cowrie shells collected from objects passed down through his family.
The shells themselves carried history.
After discovering an old African object among family belongings, Golding carefully removed hundreds of shells and incorporated them individually into his paintings.
The result was a body of work that physically embedded cultural memory into the surface of each canvas.
These works also introduced viewers to a growing symbolic language that appears throughout his artistic universe.
Many symbols represent concepts, spiritual ideas, or characters that may eventually become part of larger projects involving books, films, or animation.
A World Beyond Painting
Although Golding is primarily known as a painter, his creative interests extend far beyond the canvas.
During our conversation, he spoke about his interest in music, filmmaking, sculpture, and storytelling.
Before fully dedicating himself to visual art, he spent years writing and recording music inspired by hip-hop, reggae, poetry, and personal experiences.
What began as creative experimentation eventually evolved into another way of building stories and characters.
While much of that music remains on SoundCloud, the ideas developed during those years continue influencing his visual work today.
Recently, Golding has also begun exploring sculpture, creating forms from found objects such as tree bark, stones, and natural materials.
He hopes to eventually expand into ceramics and traditional sculptural practices while continuing to develop his larger creative universe.
Inspiration Through Travel
Travel plays a major role in Golding’s artistic process.
Whether visiting Jamaica, Mexico, Ghana, or other locations, he constantly photographs landscapes, architecture, people, cultural traditions, and objects that capture his attention.
Sometimes those references become paintings immediately.
Other times they remain dormant for years before finding their place in a future project.
His process is less about documenting reality and more about collecting visual experiences that can later be transformed into something new.
Photographs become building blocks.
Memories become stories.
And stories become paintings.
Creativity, Nature, and Balance
Like many artists, Golding recognizes the importance of stepping away from the studio.
During periods of creative exhaustion, he turns to nature, travel, meditation, and long walks to reset.
He spoke openly about the need to protect mental health and avoid burnout, emphasizing that creativity flourishes when artists allow themselves space to recharge.
For Golding, inspiration often arrives when he isn’t actively searching for it.
Sometimes the best creative decision is simply stepping away and returning with fresh eyes.
Looking Toward the Future
As his artistic universe continues expanding, Golding envisions a future that includes films, animation, sculpture, music, and immersive storytelling experiences.
Artificial intelligence, new technologies, and collaborative projects may all play a role in bringing these narratives to life.
Yet despite these ambitions, the foundation remains the same.
Storytelling.
Identity.
Culture.
Family.
And the desire to create meaningful connections between past, present, and future.
Through painting, sculpture, music, and mythology, Jay Golding is doing more than making art.
He is building worlds.
To learn more about Jay Golding and his work:
Instagram: @jaygoldingart
Website: jaygolding.art
About Tarik Talk Podcast
Tarik Talk is an independent podcast hosted by artist and filmmaker Tarik Mendes, featuring conversations with artists, curators, museum professionals, collectors, entrepreneurs, and creative leaders from around the world.
With over 200 episodes spanning 50 seasons and guests from more than 10 countries, Tarik Talk explores the stories, challenges, and inspirations behind today’s creative voices. Recorded inside artist studios, museums, galleries, art fairs, and cultural institutions, each episode offers listeners an intimate look into contemporary art and creative life.
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