ADVERTISEMENT FOR A WORK OF ART – The horse in contemporary art
Art Orienté Objet (FR) / John Baldessari (US) / Maurizio Cattelan (IT) / David Černý (CZ) / John Collier (GB) / Pieter De Clercq (BE) / Lai Jin’na (CH) / Ben Long (GB) / Soheila Sokhanvari (IR) / Pietertje Van Splunter (NL) / Max Streicher (CA) / Michel Walgraeve (BE)
22/09-27/01/19
OPENING 22/09 - 12am
The relationship between man and horse holds a dual perspective. On one hand the animal is always admired, honored and considered noble, on the other hand it is a relation of domination for utilitarian and economic reasons (until the last century).
Multiple allegories of the horse left traces in the imagination and gave rise to numerous productions in various fields: artistic, literary, cinematographic, etc. Horse riding is both in literature and cinema often seen as the starting point for adventure. In advertising, the horse generally embodies, by its qualities of grace, power and speed, the alliance between dream and reality, virility and femininity.
When it comes to art the horse is the most represented animal since Prehistory and is one of the oldest artistic subjects. It appears in a great variety of media: paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs and films. In art history the horse is most often represented in hunting scenes, on the battlefield, as a support for the main figures (reinforcing the power of the one who rides it) or as a draft horse for vehicles. Despite the disappearance of the utility of the horse during the twentieth century in favour of technology, the animal remains present in art thanks to many modern and contemporary artists.
In its almost forty years of existence the Atelier 340 Muzeum / Atelier 34zero Muzeum has always paid special attention to the relationship between the artist and the subject and the way in which that dialogue influences the concept, directs the development of the work or is 'held hostage' by the artist. Based on this idea, the international and collective exhibition presents both artworks and reproductions on 20 m² banners, installed in our exhibition halls and in our cultural park.
