Horses

A horse walks into a bar and the barman says, “Why the long face” And the horse replies “This joke is available in both portrait and landscape”

In Horses a diverse group of artists explore the theme of the horse in a wide variety of media. Rose Eken (b.1976, DK) has created a large-scale ceramic installation with elements from the stable, complete with saddle, bridle, riding boots, horseshoes, carrots and horse shit. In Karen Kilimnik’s (b.1955, US) small eerie dreamy painting, a white unicorn prances through Leonardo da Vinci’s living room in Amboise, France. Danny Fox (b. 1986, UK) has created the large vibrant painting, Stoners, in which a moldy posse of cowboys observe a seemingly perplexed horse. In Dan Attoe’s (b.1975, US) neon sculpture, I Know, a horse stares coolly at the observer. A relentless piercing neon gaze. In Bjørn Nørgaard’s (b.1947, DK) seminal performance and film work from 1970, The Horse Sacrifice, created in collaboration with Henning Christiansen and Lene Adler Petersen, a horse is butchered and dismembered on a field to protest the Vietnam war. In Genieve Figgis (b.1972, IRL) gestural semi abstract painting three men on horses ride through the pale blue moonlight. In Austin Lee’s horse head portrait, executed in seemingly fast paced line on a bright red background, the portrayed animal has a bewildered attentive expression. As though it was eavesdropping on the current world news. In Kaspar Oppen Samuelsen’s (b.1977, DK) two new large collaged mixed media works You Invented The Statues, But We Control The Horses part I & II – two women on horseback nudge their horses ahead with the use of a banana on a stick and sausage on a stick. One of the horses seem to have pantomime legs and the trot of both Flâneur and ballet dancer. Both women and horses appear stylish and defiant, but somehow lost in time. A gracious horse shaped by the hundreds of buttons in Julie Lænkholm’s (b.1985, DK) personal button collection is the protagonist in her large work on naturally dyed found fabric. The work was created during a residency on Iceland, home to the small Icelandic Horse.

The artists are united in their fascination of the horse. This magnificent creature that has followed and aided mankind for centuries. Through battles, in exploration, for survival, on the field or on the track, it seems our destinies are intertwined.

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. W.C. Fields

Come ride with us.
V1 Gallery & Eighteen

Kilde: V1 Gallery & Eighteen