This Is Not A Horse 2021

Editor: This painting, "This Is Not A Horse" by Rose Freymuth-Frazier, was created in 2021, using oil paints. I find the juxtaposition of the solid horse form with the landscape filling its body to be really striking. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It is a visually arresting work. The emptiness within the horse's silhouette is potent, a kind of palimpsest where one image – the horse – holds another, the pastoral scene, in its absent form. Tell me, what does the landscape *within* the horse evoke for you? Editor: It feels like freedom, maybe. The horse is galloping, suggesting motion and energy, and the landscape continues that sense of boundless space. Curator: Exactly. Consider the cultural memory associated with horses. They often symbolize freedom, power, and even nobility. Then observe the title: "This Is Not A Horse." What do you think the artist wants to convey? Editor: Maybe it's a challenge to our perceptions, saying that it's more than *just* a horse. The butterflies add a layer of transformation, maybe growth and transition. Curator: Precisely! Butterflies have resonated throughout history to signal themes of transformation, resurrection, lightness, the soul and beauty. The butterflies seem to almost delineate the shape of the horse; they define its border. Are they are acting like the spirit of this not-horse, a psychopomp of the natural landscape, and, potentially, acting as spiritual guides to the viewer as well? What would you say that you take away from seeing this artwork? Editor: I've gained a deeper appreciation for how artists can use recognizable imagery to question what is real, inviting viewers to project our own meanings. It's clever. Curator: And I’m reminded of how enduring symbols can be re-imagined to reflect our ever-evolving relationship with nature and freedom.