That’s a wrap for 2023! The end of a year is always characterised by contrasting impulses – reflect and rejuvenate. Ancient Romans recognised this duality, naming the month of January for their god Janus, who had two faces, one looking backward and the other forward. It is time to reflect, relax and regroup, but also to pop bottles, metamorphosis and make well-intentioned resolutions, to look at who we are and who we want to be.
To capture the magic of a new year, its pensive and propellant possibility, here is a curation of art to inspire and relax. Who knows, maybe this is the year you finally get your art collection into swing!
Robert Dickerson 'Light and Shadow'
Relax, Rejuvenate & Reflect
The secrets to relaxing and rejuvenating may lie with Reg Mombassa and Michael Leunig’s characters. In ‘BBQ’, Mombassa casts a kangaroo as grill master, while the jiving star of Leunig’s ‘alive and well’ spurs us to get up and dance.
Michael Leunig 'alive and well'
It is in Sidney Nolan’s enigmatic ‘Landscape’ that we find reflection. Painted the year before his famed Ned Kelly would ride into a setting like this, it is a borderwork – linking the start of Nolan’s career with what made him iconic.
Intend, Prosper
Apparently, the custom of making New Year's Resolutions goes as far back as the Babylonians, 4,000 years ago. It seems that the allure of a fresh start, of rebirth, is timeless. What do you hope for in 2024? To be swept away by a rushing romance like Arthur Boyd's 'Lovers'? Or perhaps, prosperity? While in Europe some eat cabbage to win prosperity in the New Year, we recommend Graeme Peebles' ‘Cabbage Soup’. Far more flavourful.
David Boyd 'The First Embrace'
