Carousel Horse c. 1938

John Sullivan painted this “Carousel Horse” and I love how its form emerges out of delicate washes of paint and line. The paper is left bare in some sections, such as around the legs. This creates a sense of lightness and fluidity, as though we are seeing not the thing itself, but an essence of it, like a memory floating to the surface. Sullivan is not worried about perfection, and I reckon he probably wasn’t thinking about art history. More like, what does it feel like to paint a horse? How can I capture that feeling? I love the thin, almost timid lines he uses to define the horse’s mane and tail, and how they contrast with the bold reds of the saddle. This makes me think about how forms can be both present and absent at the same time. It's kind of like how artists working today are in an ongoing dialogue with artists of the past, borrowing, reinventing, and pushing the boundaries of what art can be.