Contained Animals

Before photography documented beyond the portrait, as Lartigue did with the gentry in the early to mid 20th century, painters revealed the life of the wealthy and their activities. Equestrians were amply depicted, as were their horses. George Stubbs, Sawrey Gilpen and others depicted the farm life somewhere between sport and the wild, illustrating the elegance and nobility of the equine environs. I got involved in the horse world, and quickly came to the realization that the paintings where I had built an historical narrative was a very narrow, privileged construct. Caring for my horse in the community of a show barn and eventually our small farm did not diminish the nobility of the horse but added many more dimensions of vulnerability and helplessness ‘behind the fence’ that escaped the interest of the patrons of these earlier painters. It is a reminder that when the empowered have the chance to broadcast facets of their lives to the public (as on social media), it is a very narrow and privileged construct that has very little to do with the reality of life. The titles of the painting loosely relate to earlier paintings. The frame portions are in the manner of Rococo frames. The carvings are based on different historical periods in wallpaper design. Like the painting was cut out of a wall.