(New Year) / 1952 / Oil on lawanit (fiberboard) / 70 x 49 cm / Artist: Arturo Luz / Ateneo Art Gallery collection

A trio of cyclists on a single bicycle are shown celebrating the New Year in Luz’s Bagong Taon. This painting is one of utter simplicity that belies careful, precise planning. Each object is there for a symbolic purpose: a tiny moon reveals it is evening, a small cone represents the trumpet used during the New Year’s Eve revelry, and a yellow-green background indicates that the action takes place outdoors. The cyclists are thin and straight. Their heads, faceless and pin shaped, are reduced to their basic geometric components. The only visible physical differences among the figures are the colors of their clothes.

The picture is structured to emphasize straight lines and circular shapes. Straight vertical and diagonal lines are present in the bicycle and cyclists’ bodies. Luz subdues the color element to highlight the straight lines and circles of his composition. The position of the cyclists’ bodies shows that they share a single well-orchestrated movement on canvas. There is rhythm in their straight limbs; one wraps his arms around the waist of another, as if holding on to dear life, while the cyclist up front gracefully covers his knees with his hands in a show of perfect balance.