(*1956, DE)
Das Pferd, 1994-2018
Bronze, acrylic paint
220 × 220 × 80 cm

Recurring throughout the decades-long oeuvre of the German artist Markus Oehlen is the motif of a horse. What sets this latest iteration of his Das Pferd sculpture apart from the others is its absurd and comedic mimicry as a cast-bronze sculpture painted gold. Illusory yet referential, its sleek, shiny surface suggests an imitation of bronze, which is ironically what the work truly is at its core. This idea of “fakeness”, creating simulacra of materiality shaped by mannerism and gesture, is central to Oehlen’s work. Das Pferd also bears this ribbed texture, eschewing the smoothness of metal as if he had made a 3-D version of his paintings, with its curvy silhouette existing in the legacy of Hans Arp’s iconic shapes and Picasso’s Minotaurs.