Johnny Romeo
FUTURE DAYS
New Paintings
Even in the darkest of times, there is always a glimmer of hope to guide us home. In Future Days, internationally acclaimed Australian Pop painter Johnny Romeo makes his glorious hometown return to Sydney with an exuberant series of paintings that calls on us to embrace the power of positivity and harness life’s endless possibilities to radically transform our lives. Showcasing Australia’s King of Pop at his most uplifting and dynamic, Future Days is a larger-than-life celebration of hope as the vital force that empowers us to overcome adversity, find meaning and make our dreams a reality.
Future Days takes its title from the 1973 album by the cosmic krautrock pioneers CAN. The series is a spiritual successor to Johnny Romeo’s sell-out 2022 Sydney show ‘LANDED!’, which explored what it means to live up to your potential and find solid ground within yourself. In Future Days, Romeo builds upon this philosophy by asking: what happens once we have landed? Drawing on the experimental mysticism of CAN’s music, Romeo looks beyond the present for answers, using his inimitable Kitsch Pop style to envision the future as an alchemical space of transformation where anything is possible.
Within the context of the series, the future is not just a fantastical utopia that magically rewards passive bystanders. To reach the future days that we aspire to, we need to courageously step into the unknown, grow from the challenges we face in the present and be active participants in building our own future. Above all, we need to believe in the life-changing power of hope. Showcasing some of Romeo’s most electrifying and life-affirming works to date, the seriesis full of confident go-getters, adventurous visionaries and thrill-seeking hustlers who have taken the future into their own hands by dreaming big and daring to hope. In the neon-drenched future days of Johnny Romeo’s Kitsch Pop world, stray dogs soar the heavens to become moon bound space-hounds, while once ruthless Sith Lords find inner peace through Zen Buddhism. Abounding with vibrant, positive energy, these futuristic avatars of Poptimism show us that the seeds of the future are sown right here in the present, and that the promise of self-actualisation can only be achieved by turning hope into action.
For Romeo, hope runs deeper than having a sunny outlook on life. Just as the light cannot exist without the dark, hope makes its presence felt most profoundly during times of hardship and adversity. Johnny Romeo delves into this notion of duality throughout Future Days, crafting explosive Kitsch Pop works that masterfully teeter between joy and sadness, chaos and serenity, darkness and light. From once tortured artists learning to stop and smell the sunflowers, to Lichtenstein’s infamously depressed ‘drowning girl’ finding her calling as a scuba-thriving aqua teen, Romeo’s latest collection of Kitsch Pop misfits tackle their demons head-on and harness the lessons learnt from their struggles as opportunities to build a better tomorrow. Duality furthermore influences the artist’s exhilarating exploration of the human condition through colour, as murky, melancholic expanses of greens and blues give way to euphoric bursts of kaleidoscopic, sun-drenched hues. Johnny Romeo ingeniously plays off these contrasts, reminding us that even in these dark times we live, there is always a spark of hope waiting for us to bounce back bigger and better than ever.
Our ability to grow from the infinite possibilities we encounter everyday not only gives us the tools to create a brighter tomorrow, but the ability to take on the elements and defy fate. Drawing on the meditative, coastal grooves of CAN’s ‘Future Days’ and the terrifying grandeur of Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’, the sea in Romeo’s works signifies both a space for self-discovery and a vast tempest that we must conquer to find inner peace. Meanwhile, feisty feline heroines and three-eyed mystic cats invoke the sacred energy of the moon as a source of rebirth and new beginnings, where divine intuition enables us to chart the tides of change. Flowers also play a prominent role in the series, highlighting the transformative power of positivity while cheekily bridging the gap between anguished Impressionists and tormented grunge icons.
Future Days is a spirited declaration of hope from Australia’s King of Pop that captures the breathtaking possibilities of tomorrow in brilliant Technicolour. Bursting with vibrant colours, bold, life-affirming imagery and savvy humour, Johnny Romeo’s latest series takes us on a rollicking joyride through the neon-drenched world of Kitsch Pop, where the bright promise of future days lies within us, in the here and now.
Opening reception with Artist: Friday 8th December, 2023 @ 6:30-8:00pm
Harvey Galleries, 515 Sydney Road, Seaforth, 2092, NSW, Australia Ph: +61 2 9907 0595.
RSVP to attend the opening of Johnny Romeo’s FUTURE DAYS is essential.
RSVP to: rsvp@harveygalleries.com.au
Preview: Saturday 2nd December – 12am-5pm.
Artist Talk: Saturday 10th December – 3-5pm.
Any inquiries regarding Johnny Romeo’s FUTURE DAYS can be made directly through Harvey Galleries (admin@harveygalleries.com.au) or by calling the gallery on +61 2 9907 0595.
Exhibition Dates: 8th December – 19th December 2023.
December 3, 2023