The Cat And The Horse Exhibition
The official opening of the “Instinct #8: The Cat And The Horse” exhibition took place on the 12th of September 2019 in the “Village Berlin” in Berlin, Germany. The organisers invited a selection of artists to talk about Berlin, love and liberation.
Participants: Gareth Ernst, Philipp Gallon & Pär, Åhlander, Rafal Gaweda, Roey Victoria Heifetz, Ted Rohn, L. Jo, Tomasz Pieszko, Nick Wilson, Rhonda Winter and Teiko Ang Zheng.
The painting “The Cat and the Horse” is a response to the exhibition “My Dearest Sweet Love: Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy”, shown at “Schwules Museum Berlin” from June 14 until August 26, 2019.
The “Cat” and the “Horse” are manifestations of the intimacy of the novelist Christopher Isherwood and the painter Don Bachardy’s relationship. These are the names that they gave each other in their love letters. Born in England, Isherwood moved to Berlin in 1929 where he experienced a sexual awakening. Berlin is considered by many a liberating space where people come to reinvent their life and experience the freedoms the city offers. When the Nazis came into power in 1933, he had to leave Germany and eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he met Bachardy. His Berlin part of the journey, as brief as it was, had an impact on his subsequent life and their mutual relationship.
The Cat And The Horse
130 x 80 cm, oil on canvas, 2019
The painting depicts two men facing each other in a dark room. Saturated colours and dimmed light can bring to one’s mind a meeting in a night club. A shirtless man on the left side of the painting covers his face with his hand. In front of him stands a man hiding his face with an undershirt. Their bodies are flooded with neon light from behind. The painting is divided into two equal parts. The symmetrical composition amps up the feeling of a physical disconnection between two people.
Finally, the painting is a manifestation of erotism which I believe is an essential part of modern existence in a dominant consumerist culture. I would like to get the audience to reflect on our imaginations and our bodies. Also, make them realise how they are inseparably bound up in our personal freedom, and often represent it. Suppressed under the weight of societal mores, norms, and inherited tradition, sexual freedom deserves attention and validation.
The official opening of the “Instinct #8: The Cat And The Horse”; exhibition took place on the 12th of September 2019 in the “Village Berlin” in Berlin, Germany. The organisers invited a selection of artists to talk about Berlin, love and liberation.
Participants: Gareth Ernst, Philipp Gallon & Pär, Åhlander, Rafal Gaweda, Roey Victoria Heifetz, Ted Rohn, L. Jo, Tomasz Pieszko, Nick Wilson, Rhonda Winter and Teiko Ang Zheng.
The painting “The Cat and the Horse” is a response to the exhibition “My Dearest Sweet Love: Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy”, shown at “Schwules Museum Berlin” from June 14 until August 26, 2019.
The “Cat” and the “Horse” are manifestations of the intimacy of the novelist Christopher Isherwood and the painter Don Bachardy’s relationship. These are the names that they gave each other in their love letters. Born in England, Isherwood moved to Berlin in 1929 where he experienced a sexual awakening. Berlin is considered by many a liberating space where people come to reinvent their life and experience the freedoms the city offers. When the Nazis came into power in 1933, he had to leave Germany and eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he met Bachardy. His Berlin part of the journey, as brief as it was, had an impact on his subsequent life and their mutual relationship.
The Cat And The Horse
130 x 80 cm, oil on canvas, 2019
The painting depicts two men facing each other in a dark room. Saturated colours and dimmed light can bring to one’s mind a meeting in a night club. A shirtless man on the left side of the painting covers his face with his hand. In front of him stands a man hiding his face with an undershirt. Their bodies are flooded with neon light from behind. The painting is divided into two equal parts. The symmetrical composition amps up the feeling of a physical disconnection between two people.
Finally, the painting is a manifestation of erotism which I believe is an essential part of modern existence in a dominant consumerist culture. I would like to get the audience to reflect on our imaginations and our bodies. Also, make them realise how they are inseparably bound up in our personal freedom, and often represent it. Suppressed under the weight of societal mores, norms, and inherited tradition, sexual freedom deserves attention and validation.
THE CAT AND THE HORSE, 130 x 80 cm, oil on canvas, 2019
Exhibition THE CAT AND THE HORSE, Village Berlin (Berlin, Germany 2019). Photo by Milena Rahmanzadeh.
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