The Black Horse

Mark Wallinger

01

About the Artwork

The sculpture was made with the help of advanced technology, scanning a racehorse, part owned by the artist, named Rivera Red. The horse is a subject with deep emotional and historical meaning. As the artist notes, ‘people still have an atavistic love of horses.’ Though bent to our will the thoroughbred represents unfathomable instincts. The thoroughbred could perhaps stand as an exemplar of this country’s identity and our relationship with the natural world. It was first developed at the beginning of the 18th century in England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Arabian stallions. Every racehorse in the world is descended from these animals.

Year: 2015


Copyright Mark Wallinger, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth, Photo: © Nick Turpin

Material

Bronze, resin, stainless steel

Dimensions

196 x 273 x 67 cm

Artist Biography

Mark Wallinger

Mark Wallinger is one of the UK’s leading contemporary artists. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation ‘State Britain’. His work ‘Ecce Homo’ (1999– 2000) was the first piece to occupy the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. Later it was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2001 where Wallinger was Britain’s representative. Most recently, ‘Labyrinth' (2013) a major and permanent commission for Art on the Underground, was created to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground. Wallinger has held solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London, England (1995); Museum for Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland (1999); Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (1999); Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, England (2000); Vienna Secession, Vienna, Austria (2000); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (2004); Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (2005); Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (2008); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway (2010); Museum de Pont, Tilburg, Netherlands (2011); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England (2012); Serlachius Museum, Mänttä, Finland (2016); The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (2017) and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland (2017). His work is also displayed in the collections of many leading international museums including Tate, London, England; MoMA, New York, US; and Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.