An almost entirely perfect representation of a black horse is an ongoing project exploring the subject of pictorial representation with regard to the conflicting approaches between the beautiful and the comic.
For centuries, the motif of the horse inspired the works of artists. A symbol of beauty, grace, and elegance, the horse is, in a sense, a metaphor for art itself: harnessed sometimes, both real and escapist, critical and moody. Yet, with its cultural transformation from man’s best friend in peace and war, to an animal adored for its recreative purposes, depictions on girl’s room posters and popular culture mythologies reaching from the Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses to the legendary unicorn, the horse has entered the arena of visual impotence.
In his work, Fons Schiedon focuses on topics that have been subjected to such a variety of adaptations, that they have lost their inventive meaning and firing power up to the point of semiotic fatigue. In working with this fatigue, Schiedon assumes the schizophrenic standpoint of self-sabotage: carefully building on the gracious and wonderful qualities of his subject, then abruptly intervening with this approach – a shock directed to shake his subject out of its pictorial coma. It’s a rope-pulling session between the seriously beautiful and the beautifully silly – where neither of them actually wins. The outcome defines the conflicted area between the twisted depictions of beauty and the loss of its original quality.
The exhibition An almost entirely perfect representation of a black horse at 28 lux revolves around a life size sculpture depicting a horse on the walk. Originally produced for Schiedon’s recent solo exhibition at Art Institute MU in Eindhoven, NL, this is the first time the piece is shown in Berlin. Other works include a painting, drawings, and an edition produced out of 3d-printed nylon and hand-finished by the artist.
Fons Schiedon (born 1980 in Holland) is an artist and filmmaker. He lives and works in Berlin.
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Opening Friday 15th April 2011
Exhibition 15 April – 13 May 2011
28 lux c/o Rike Feurstein
Rosa-Luxemburger-Strasse 28
10178 Berlin-Mitte
