Wild Horses 1934

Editor: Leon Kelly's 1934 ink drawing "Wild Horses" feels almost apocalyptic to me. The scratchy lines and dark tones create this unsettling energy. I’m wondering what's your interpretation of this rather frantic scene? Curator: Apocalyptic, yes! Like a dream collapsing in on itself. Look how Kelly's line work churns – the sky isn’t just above, it's bearing down. The figures, those tangled bodies – are they fleeing? Reveling? Perhaps they are wrestling with the horses? To me, the ink isn't just depicting, it's breathing. See the texture, how it almost vibrates? Editor: It does give that impression, it looks very intense and spontaneous. Is that what you mean when you say the ink is 'breathing'? Curator: Exactly. And notice, no colors, just blacks, grays, whites. Like a memory stripped to its core. It feels primal, doesn't it? Like some myth unfolding right before our eyes. It makes you wonder about the relationship between man and beast. What do you make of the landscape itself, so blurred, as a place where action happens? Editor: That's such an interesting take. The landscape isn't just background; it feels like a character too, as though it is witnessing, or even causing the pandemonium. I now have so much food for thought. Curator: Right? Art’s just holding up a mirror, showing us what’s always been there, distorted but always truthful, reflected back. It's exciting isn't it?