Art of Advent Day 9

By Elizabeth Gillett

Matthew Wong, See You on the Other Side, 2019, Oil on canvas.

Image courtesy of the Matthew Wong Foundation and Karma, New York.

The magic brought by the holiday season—all Christmas puzzles and hot cocoa, candlelit carol services, and decades old traditions with those whom we love—often holds a quietly complicated edge. In a time meant to be spent in community, brim-full with love and laughter, feelings of isolation, homesickness, and loss can come to the forefront.

Matthew Wong’s See You on the Other Side (2019) offers solace from the constant influx of Christmas cards featuring photos of seemingly perfect, happy families and letters detailing their wonderful years. In Wong’s work, a lone figure stands at the edge of a hill, gazing at a little blue and white house across the snow-covered landscape. Whilst the unpainted strip of canvas should be less eye-catching than its accompanying saturated colour palette, it is somehow difficult to focus on anything other than this vast sheet of ice. It appears endless—the idea of crossing the frozen terrain feels more treacherous than climbing down the earthy brown hill or up the hazy green mountain, giant and extending beyond the picture plane.

The great white expanse is overwhelming and feels impossible to face, visualising the burden of sitting with difficult and often uncomfortable emotions at what is meant to be a joyous time of year. Wong’s image carries this duality of sorrow and joy and offers a reassuring promise: although we will need to face these painful emotions and trek across the freezing winter tableau, there will also be room to experience peace and comfort inside the cozy little blue and white home.