The new gold rush

In times of darkness, gold shines again.

Pan American Art Projects is pleased to announce The new gold rush, an immersive group exhibition exploring the aesthetic, political, and economic implications of gold as both material and metaphor. On view from June 21 to August 2, 2025, the exhibition transforms the gallery space into a dark, enveloping environment where golden artworks emerge as luminous, provocative statements on power, wealth, and illusion.

The new gold rush invites audiences to reflect on cycles of extraction, accumulation, and delusion—reminding us that every rush carries its shadows. With gallery walls painted black, each golden work asserts itself in striking contrast, inviting viewers to contemplate what glitters, what is gained, and what is lost in each pursuit of worth.

Referencing the historical California Gold Rush of the 19th century, the exhibition draws clear parallels to today’s new political and economic climate. Then, as now, speculative ventures promised fortune while deepening inequality and environmental destruction. In this context, gold becomes a symbol of desire and excess—a mirror reflecting contemporary “rushes” toward profit, digital currencies, luxury commodities, and land acquisition amid social precarity.

The new gold rush brings together artists whose works engage materiality, systems of power, and the cultural weight of gold through painting, sculpture, installation, and mixed media. The blackened space—rich in visual and symbolic absence—echoes the voids left behind by extractive ambition, while the golden works offer paths of critique, complicity, and perhaps even hope.

Featuring artists: Francis Acea, Duane Armstrong, Elizabet Cerviño, Carlos Estévez, Brian Hunt, Jorge Lavoy, Vero Murphy, Carlos Nicanor, Verónica Romano, Macarena Salinas, Carolina Sardi, Mariana Tocornal and José A. Vincench.