Image Essay #8

This is a piece by Marc Burckhardt entitled American Thoroughbred. The circuit of meaning here is pretty open to interpretation. Perhaps because the horse is camoflaged, Burckhardt might be saying something about war - how it seems to be desired in America. Aside from the artist's intentions with this piece, it is a very good composition. There is a high contrast between the grass in the front and the pastures behind, which helps to bring the grass and horse forward. There is a lot of tension in colors which also helps to provide a spatial illusion. The foreground is darker while the background is darker so the image of the horse really stands out, silhouetted against the sky and receding pastures.

Burckhardt also does a lot of portrains of famous musicians. There are some really interesting portraits of Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash (by no means am I placing them in the same company by mentioning them together in the same sentence.) There are also some more bizarre works, like one that has a man being eaten by a dinosaur. How can you not be interesting in a man eating dinosaur? He uses a lot of interesting colors with high contrast so the forms really stand out from the background. He has a very interesting and unique style, I think.