Horse Stories
My latest body of work, Horse Stories, (or eight pony's and a cow) is essentially an exploration into the qualities of paint and form.
With a fairly modernist approach to the paint I was interested in expressing the essence of the subject (the horseyness of the horse) and through the poetic weight of the pose. Much of my source imagery included equestrian crashes and falls as I sought to capture the weight and power of these beasts, lending both a solidity as well and an ephemeral presence. The horse itself has always been heavily laden symbol throughout human history and coupled with every little girls love of the pony, I found it a useful form on which to anchor and infect my ideas.
Drawing on a post-modernist art education, I could not help but be entertained by the narrative that began to emerge as the body of work progressed. The title of each pony, or pose, is drawn from a literary, cinematic or musical influence, expanding the meaning so that the one gesture expresses something essential in that character or moment that resides in another text.
Chief hails from One flew over a Cuckoos Nest, Rosencranz from the play by Tom Stoppard, Widow of a King People references the fall of Rome or dominant empires, eight pony's and a cow tags the Peter Greenaway's film of a similar title, the topic of Crash draws on the theories explored by JG Ballard ... and Cindy Lauper... well it always comes back to Cindy.
With a fairly modernist approach to the paint I was interested in expressing the essence of the subject (the horseyness of the horse) and through the poetic weight of the pose. Much of my source imagery included equestrian crashes and falls as I sought to capture the weight and power of these beasts, lending both a solidity as well and an ephemeral presence. The horse itself has always been heavily laden symbol throughout human history and coupled with every little girls love of the pony, I found it a useful form on which to anchor and infect my ideas.
Drawing on a post-modernist art education, I could not help but be entertained by the narrative that began to emerge as the body of work progressed. The title of each pony, or pose, is drawn from a literary, cinematic or musical influence, expanding the meaning so that the one gesture expresses something essential in that character or moment that resides in another text.
Chief hails from One flew over a Cuckoos Nest, Rosencranz from the play by Tom Stoppard, Widow of a King People references the fall of Rome or dominant empires, eight pony's and a cow tags the Peter Greenaway's film of a similar title, the topic of Crash draws on the theories explored by JG Ballard ... and Cindy Lauper... well it always comes back to Cindy.
