La Nobiltà Dei Cavalli 1967

Bruno Cassinari made this painting of horses with a limited palette of red, green, black, and white. Looking at the painting, I imagine Cassinari’s process, the layering of imagery, maybe even the scratching into the paint – building up a surface of dynamic tension. The layering becomes a way of thinking through the subject, horses, but also people and hands emerge from the background. These horses don't exist in a vacuum; they're part of a world, a history, a tradition of representing animals in art. The black lines are really doing the work. They create the forms but also seem to undo them, suggesting movement and speed. There is a sense of incompleteness, of searching, that makes the painting feel alive. I wonder if he was thinking of Marino Marini? I think he might have been. It's like they're in conversation across time and space.