White Horse from the Four Horses of the Apocalypse

Series, 2020
Acrylic on Canvas,
48×30 inches

The Four Horses paintings were conceived and executed during the global crisis of the pandemic. This was a time in which it seemed that the world was coming to an end, much like the Apocalypse of Biblical Revelations. I was cloistered in my studio, reflecting on how historical global tragedy often mirrors the allegory of the Biblical arrival of the Apocalypse.

The White Horse is the first harbinger of the Apocalypse. His rider is known as Conquest, Pestilence, the return of Christ to cast the Last Judgment, or conversely the Antichrist bringing about the end times. I have shown him here as sublime and princely, descending from the Heavens with attendant warrior angels, a white dove as herald flying before him. Arrows rain down from his royal garments of office, carrying plague to infect and destroy sinners. His expression is inscrutable in the beauty and glory of fulfilling his role. His enhaloed head radiates replicating RNA out to the skies, the bringer of the world-ending Covid virus. As Covid destabilized nations, some countries returned to thoughts of Conquest, while others were forced to take actions to protect themselves.