Dark Horse from the Four Horses of the Apocalypse

Series, 2020
Acrylic on Canvas,
48×30 inches

The Black Horse is the third figure in the arrival of the Biblical Apocalypse. He represents Famine and carries a scale to weigh out resources. In the Biblical description, the scales are explained in that there will always be enough wine and oil. This is because a famine does not typically affect the wealthy few who enjoy luxuries and hold the most resources, only the majority who are in need of food staples in order to survive. Famine is represented in the painting as a semi-monstrous human form of unfeeling stone, fulfilling his duty with no empathy. The scales he carries hold the Alpha and Omega, representative of the beginning and end of time, and above the scales the sacred spiral symbolizes the cyclical and repeating nature of his function. His black horse fills the painting, solidly crushing the earth below. But hope springs in the regrowth of new grass, and the promise of continual resources in the lush foliage behind him.

When Covid became a reality for the world in March of 2022, people began to panic and hoard resources. Stores had difficulty keeping food and toilet paper stocked, looting and lawlessness began to occur in consequence. Because people couldn’t work, they had no income with which to buy food. Children who were being fed at school were now dependent on families who could not afford to feed them. The food bank line which passed by my studio stretched all the way down Collins Avenue as far as the eye could see, cars lining up at early hours of the morning to wait all day for a box of food.