We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
This is a painting I did for the large group exhibition we have on at the gallery at the moment. I was aiming not so much for a serious depiction of a horse as something about the symbolic power and grace of the animal. I was also after a bit of a surreal feeling. You can see the whole catalogue of wonderful equine-themed artworks here: http://hillierskusegallery.com/
I’m trying a different way of combining the figure and the landscape here — the landscape is in the figure, rather than the other way around. I’m not sure what anyone else will make of it, but I’m rather liking it. Instead of being a straightforward narrative, the viewer has more freedom to create their own meaning. For some reason, as I was painting it, a verse of the Rubaiyat came to mind (verse 32 Fitzgerald trans.):
There was a Door to which I found no Key:
There was a Veil through which I could not see:
Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee
There seemed — and then no more of Thee and Me
Not sure if this even fits the painting, or what it means, but that’s what came to mind.
