Ever since I could draw, I have drawn horses. I made long scrolls illustrating each breed and their characteristics. My notebooks are full of stallions and mares prancing in the margins.
I have never had my own horse, though I have ridden since I was five years old. It is the one childhood goal I aspire to as an adult. This exhibition, “Cheval Bleu” shows that pure fantasy I felt as a girl interacting with the crossroads in my life as an adult.
There is a Chinese proverb about a nobleman who loved dragons (叶公好龙). He openly adored their strength, beauty and mystical nature. He commissioned artists to paint them in his home, seamstresses to sew them into his magnificent robes. After a lifetime of this, one day, he looked out his window and saw a real life dragon hovering over him. The nobleman was terrified and hid from it until it flew away. This proverb is pointing out people who say they like things but in reality do not.
As I enter middle age, I admit I wonder about this proverb. I wonder about this childhood focus on horses and if I am chasing a dream by drawing these scenes I so wish I could be in: a thriving palio race, riding a purebred Lusitano in Andalusia, alone in a twilit field face to face with an appaloosa mare. If I one day attain this fantasy, will I continue to draw and search for them?
Nonetheless, horses are both a comfortable and exhilarating subject for me to draw today. I have drawn them with my eyes closed. I am always surprised by the result, despite knowing their lines and movements by heart.