The Painter 2017

Hifa Cybe made this photograph, called “The Painter,” sometime recently, I think. It’s a photo of two… stirrups? I am immediately drawn to the black leather. Think about saddles, boots, and harnesses – these materials suggest something about physical labor, the work of riding horses, or being ‘horseshoed’ as a painter. This is not an image where the process is concealed. You can almost smell the leather; I can imagine touching the sharp knife that each stirrup has in place of a foot. The way the light glances off the buckles creates a sense of depth and dimensionality that makes me think about the weight of these objects, how they would feel to hold and use, what it is to be a 'working' artist. It reminds me of the work of Paul McCarthy, who uses dark humor to expose the underlying tensions and contradictions of American culture. Like McCarthy, Cybe encourages us to question our assumptions about the role of the artist and the creative process.