Mars 2013

Dragan Ilić Di Vogo painted this 'Mars' with the horse, an animal long tied to martial strength and nobility, set against a cosmic backdrop. The symbolic weight of the horse hearkens back to antiquity, seen in classical sculptures and Renaissance paintings as a companion to heroes and gods. But here, the horse is spectral, almost dissolving into the astral scene behind it. This is juxtaposed with the distinct geometric symbols that overlay the horse's form, which reminds us of astronomical charts or alchemical diagrams, suggesting a deeper, perhaps hidden, order. This interplay of the ethereal horse and the precise geometric forms evokes a tension—a struggle between instinct and intellect, nature and culture. Throughout history, the horse has been used to represent unbridled power, yet here, it is subdued, almost melancholic. Like motifs in a recurring dream, such symbols resurface, each time colored by the anxieties and aspirations of a new era.