Monday 18 March 2013

The Uffington white horse


I may not have mentioned this but I fan of line executed with brevity. When I first saw an image of the Uffington horse It was one of those good grief, moments, I couldn't quite believe someone had executed a work that resonated so strongly with my personal aesthetic. There's a few other artists who've prompted the same feeling, in comics they would probably be Joe Staton and Mick McMahon. Historical artists I would cite would be Samual Palmer, William Blake, the engravings of Rembrandt and few others too. You may have spotted the influence of the horse with the bunny picture that I use as my calling card. It's doubtful if the horse, as seen today, is the product of pure artifice. Most likely the form of the horse has morphed arbitrarily over generations, although I'm tempted to think that the evolution of its form has been tempered by cognition of beauty. I suppose that's what makes it special as an artefact, its not just a monument to some whim or the product of a soulless bureaucracy, like its flaccid counterparts today. Those gawdawful monsters, towering Molochs that impose their shadow on vistas.  It's something that grew and that's been preserved by those for whom it held some significance.

2 comments:

  1. I can also remember being blown away when I first saw this. I would love to have met the people responsible although perhaps as you say that might take away some of the mystique.

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    1. That's an interesting point, I wonder if we'd be disillusioned by some prosaic motive behind its creation.

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