Janus

oil on canvas
90 × 110 cm

In Roman religion and myth, Janus is an important god of two faces. The left is more expressive, with a bushy beard, dishevelled hair and/or with horns; the face of an older person (looking backwards in time and space). The right-hand face of Janus is younger and smoother, shaven or else with a smaller and stylised beard, kempt hair without horns (looking forwards temporally and spatially).

For this reason, I give the name “Janus” to a picture with a compositionally powerful contrast of lozenges of similar dimensions, the left of which is black, the right white, with a taut dividing or joining line between them.
I correlate this border line with what Janus symbolises: passage and transition.
As a curiosity I note that Janus rules the beginnings of all things, and so the first month in the year is derived from his name.

(2024; written for the audio guide to the exhibition “NON-BAR-RIER-S” [“NE-PRE-PRE-KE”] in the Typhlological Museum in Zagreb, 2024)