To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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An opportunity for a fresh star
From Babylon to the Mayas, from Ancient Rome and Egypt to China at different times of the year, new year was and is marked with resolutions, writes JOANNE DICKSON
(L to R) Cuneiform tablet describing the Akitu festival of the New Year in Babylon, at the spring equinox, dedicated to the great god Marduk 1st millennium BCE; a statue of the Roman god Janus, in the Museum of Ferrara Cathedral, who is traditionally depicted as having two faces, one looking to the past and the other the future, the young and old, 1225-30 CE
[(L to R) Zunkir/CC Sailko/CC]
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
AS WE welcome in the new year, a common activity across many cultures is the setting of new year resolutions. New year represents a significant temporal milestone in the calendar when many people set new goals for the year ahead. Here in Australia, over 70 per cent of men and women (over 14 million Australians) are reported to have set at least one new year resolution in 2022.
New year pledges or promises are not new. This practice has been around for some time. Most ancient cultures practised some type of religious tradition or festival at the beginning of the new year.
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Gin Lane by William Hogarth is a critique of 18th-century London’s growing funeral trade, posits DAN O’BRIEN