Waiting for the Golden Age
Waiting for the Golden Age is the title of an art exhibition I staged in Te Aroha in 2023. It was a personal highlight in a gloriously productive year.
The Golden Age is a perennial theme. The title for the exhibition, Waiting for the Golden Age, began with an iconic work I had produced, hinting at the idea. The concept of a Renaissance or Golden Age has haunted me since I was 15. I envisaged a renaissance in the arts, which I discussed in interviews a few years later. Wonderful possibilities opened before me to study art in the UK which generated a flurry of interest. That is a story for another time!
Vision of a Golden Age
Something like a Golden Age first arose in my mind when I was nine (or twelve!) and staying at the farm of family friends in the wilds. They often invited us there, in the heart of the Waikato. The place still persists in memory, an idyllic retreat. I used to roam over gorgeous green hills and valleys, beguiled by spectacular views of farmland. The countryside lit my imagination. On one such occasion, near sunset, I viewed the horizon and envisaged a happy, golden world of the future.
The vision grew and impressed itself upon me. Centred on the West, and particularly a future America, I saw a thriving, prosperous world unfolding. It was a momentary snapshot, belonging to a far off time, yet steeped in timeless nostalgia. The light cast by the last rays of the sun somehow vivified and enhanced my impression. At the time, I did not question or judge what I saw. It was simply a moment of reflection.
The impression and accompanying joy remained with me all these years. I never thought I would see such a world in the making. I thought it projected well beyond my lifetime. In fact, I feel it links with the ideas I aired in my first blog, 2023 is the Year. 2023 again looms as a temporal key! In the blog, I envisioned an exciting future based upon a dream when I was 17.
The Golden Age has been on everyone’s lips for the last two years, especially concerning developments in America. Trump hails the beginning of a golden future, and has made the theme his own. Could I have had a glimpse of the future all those years ago? I mention the US as an aside – purely as a marker in a personal journey. Life becomes charmed indeed when the outer world begins to reflect the field of internal impressions.
The Artist’s Retelling of the Vision
The idea for the exhibition was both a wish and a future imagining. By building a visual library around the theme of a Golden Age, I could perhaps hasten its manifestation. That is why visual art is a powerful tool. And why I expected a renaissance in the arts in the future. Art based on forgotten concepts such as sacred forms and geometry, which embraced the aesthetic of beauty, would emerge. Art which expressed the artist as a free spirit, able to realise visionary schema forged from spiritual journeys.
I was waiting for the Golden Age. All things come to those who wait.
The Exhibition Opening
We came dressed in gold. The opening or private view grew into a lively gathering. Old loved works, etchings, sold. As part of the exhibition, copies of All Revolutions Begin This Way were available to buy – all of them sold.
The Events page has more about the exhibition.
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