Starting a new year is an electrifying moment: the world brims with possibilities once again, the air is charged with the buzz of something fresh, the promise of a new day ahead. Yet, for some of us, it can also feel daunting, especially for those whose recent past has been heavy with challenges. Finding the perfect image to wish all of us a happy new year can therefore be challenging, but let's try it nonetheless with a drawing by Vija Celmins.
The Latvian artist is renowned for her paintings and drawings that depict natural phenomena - oceans, spider webs, night skies, and comets - usually inspired by photographs. Her process of recreating these images, typically in a muted palette of grey, white, and black, can span many days, each piece capturing the quiet, detailed essence of the subject.
Celmins' passion for collecting images began in childhood when she moved from her native Latvia to Indianapolis. The first images she collected were from comic books, a practice that continued as she grew older and started producing paintings and sculptures inspired by everyday objects. In the late '60s, captivated by the space race, she began drawing images of outer space.
Space is infinite - endless and boundless - but Celmins gives it depth and focus, often using a white frame to create a more concentrated view. Her mastery of medium allows her to explore light and dark with great precision, as seen in her use of graphite pencil to capture the shifting waves. In the 1990s, Celmins began employing charcoal and an eraser for her night sky drawings made by layering charcoal across the paper's surface and then removing areas with the eraser to reveal strands of stars, radiating like a web across the cosmos.
In Untitled #13 (Comet), part of the Museum of Modern Art's collection in New York, Celmins recreates a comet as it moves across a star-filled galaxy. The absence of a horizon line creates a sense of floating, either over an ocean or through space. The comet, in its simplicity, is magical, powerful, and inspiring.
Amid this vast, noisy, mad and chaotic world - one often too heavy to bear with wars, turmoil, suffering, and death - let this image serve as a symbol of freedom and hope. Like a gentle wish for us all, it whispers "ad astra," urging us to rise above life's challenges, no matter how insurmountable they may appear. Let it inspire us to keep moving forward, with the promise of brighter days ahead. Happy New Year.
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