People said the old barn should have fallen years ago. The roof had sunk, the boards had gone gray, and every winter the wind carried a little more of it away. Nothing lived there anymore, at least nothing anyone would claim. You could see daylight through the walls and the floor had begun returning itself to dirt. And yet there he stood. A fine horse wearing an English bridle polished brighter than the room deserved. No reins. No saddle. No tracks in the dust leading in or out. Just the horse.

The darkness inside the barn seemed deeper than it should have been, swallowing the rafters, the corners, and half the room itself until only the horse remained. He wasn't frightened. That was the troubling part. A horse alone in a place like that ought to pace or call out or search for a way home, but this one simply watched as though he'd been expecting company. Sometimes I think he wandered in looking for shelter. Sometimes I think he belongs to the barn more than the people who built it ever did. The old stories are full of enchanted horses carrying kings and saints through forgotten countries. This one carries nothing except the feeling that he has come from somewhere better and taken a wrong turn along the way.

The light enters through the doorway and the darkness keeps the rest, and the horse stands between them as if he knows something the barn forgot.

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Influenced by the dramatic chiaroscuro of the Baroque masters, the painting utilizes passages of Vantablack within the background and frame, allowing the surrounding darkness to absorb light and recede into near-total void. Emerging from this darkness, the horse becomes both subject and apparition.

*This piece comes FRAMED - painted with Vantablack. Free shipping to lower 48 USA