Purity of a Horse

DONG Jinling
207 x 167 x 87 cm
Edition of 3
Sculpture | White Marble
2018

‘Purity of a Horse’ is a horse-shaped installation carved from white marble, which material in nature could endure corrodes from time. The piece itself weights around 3 tons, Dong Jinling considered its heaviness could carry the presentation of the horse, which also resemble the feelings from human spirit. By using the marble stone as the most common element, it creates a great contrast with acrylic, metal, plastic, and etc. The stance of a striding forward horse figure is based from traditional sculpture, as it was the public aesthetic to horses. Nonetheless, this horse is being dismembered into two parts with missing head. The horse’s head seems to be suspense, either assembling the round sphere underneath its horseshoe or the emptiness from itself. Isn’t a horse without facial features still a horse? What kind of horse is it? Facial feature is sacred and weak in the same time. Dong eliminates this part as the endorsement of the entire species. Today, warhorses are extinct; it can be seen as a set o in the scenery or human’s pet. What is the purity of horse spirit? And what is the purity of spirit when human face the consumption, technology, and fracture time and space?