“Horse Dance” 11 x 30” Watercolor and Gouache on Paper

Four figures on horseback comprise the top portion of this painting, as inspired by a painting by Kills Two, an Oglala Sioux. (Circa 1920 – 30)  His imagery renders four horsemen in a ceremonial context.

I am inspired by the magic of his image.  In my watercolor painting, I am pairing an interpretation of this image along with a unique Sioux artifact, owned by the Museum of American Indians.  This buffalo hide and horn adornment was for a horse, possibly to be worn and exhibited as in Kills Two painting.

Taking these images out of their historical context for reflection, this painting is rendered to suggest the passage of time and the blurring of memory.  Without recall, these magical moments from the past are lost.  How many moments from our current world are being lost to time.   Seemingly, we are recording more and more, such as I am here.  Posting it for the world to access, but then, is it lost to time, getting jumbled with all of the information out there.  Do the high resolution digital images I am taking of my paintings survive the test of time?  Digital images fade, as do photographic ones, in time.   My childhood photos are but a mere shadow this lifetime’s span hence they were taken… especially the color ones.  Early color photography is definitely not a permanent record.

Regardless, the memories and context of things from the past are inevitably lost over time.  My reinterpretation of them in the context of 2011 is my art.