The horse is an iconic symbol of the West. Appearing alongside cowboys, roaming the landscape and parading in rodeos, horses remain a point of fascination and inspiration for artists.
Rachel Brownlee and Abigail Gutting will open their joint show When the Dust Settlesthis October at InSight Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas. At first glance, the pair’s works are in contrast with each other. Brownlee, who captures ranch horses in dramatic black-and-white charcoal works, will share walls with Gutting’s rich oil paintings of rodeo horses bursting with energy and movement in dynamic compositions.
Abigail Gutting, Into the Wind, oil on canvas, 24 x 48 in.
The strength and energy of the horse in motion fill Gutting’s paintings. The sounds of a rodeo—the action and excitement, the gallops and horses whinnying to each other—are palpable through the canvas.
Her paintings Full of Fight and Into the Wind show off the strength and anatomy of the animals, and also demonstrate an appreciation and understanding of their power.
“The first rodeo I went to I could not believe horses in action. And the way they can move and the dynamic possibilities, artistically speaking, are inexhaustible,” says Gutting. “I can go to a rodeo, take a couple thousand photos and come home and end up with so much more than I hoped for. It’s really a fundamental thing that it excites me about painting horses. Their anatomy in action—the design possibilities are endless.”
In contrast, Brownlee focuses on the quieter moments of wide-open spaces, where the horses work the land but are also free to roam and rest.
Rachel Brownlee, Flowers of the Field, charcoal on canvas, 36 x 48 in.
“Ranch horses are a working partner with you. So, there is a lot of rest involved and peace because you need to work today and you need to work tomorrow, and today might be 12 hours long, and so you need to treat that horse like a partner that you’re working with. They need space and time,” explains Brownlee.
The sense of peace and rest she describes can be seen in her paintings Range Horses and Flowers of the Field. The works depict groups of horses out in the fields and, as Brownlee puts it, they look like families.
“I like to show the relationship between human and horse, or horse and horse. I like groups of horses together with their body language because they’re so intimate,” says Brownlee. “They have friendships, hierarchies, families…it’s a family that you’re seeing that’s helping each other in that moment. There’s a couple of pieces like that in this show.”
Abigail Gutting, Full of Fight, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.
Both artists capture an intimate understanding of the animals, how they behave, the personalities they develop and their role in today’s world.
“The horse has been pivotal to human history since the beginning of time, and specifically to the American West, we wouldn’t have the American West without horses. The partnership between man and beast is iconic, and I think there’s something about it that appeals to every person on the planet,” says Gutting.
Rachel Brownlee, Range Horses, charcoal on canvas, 18 x 24 in.
For Brownlee, the show is about showing audiences that horses are still a living entity of the American West, one that she experienced growing up on a ranch in Nebraska. “I want [viewers] to see the authenticity of my ranch experience, of my intimate life with horses and understanding them in all different states. I want them to see that they are still a living entity of the American West, not just a historical one.”
When the Dust Settles captures the 21st-century American West and celebrates the horses that have led to what it is today. The show opens October 2 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. and runs until October 23 at InSight Gallery. —
InSight Gallery 214 W. Main Street » Fredericksburg, TX 78624 » (830) 997-9920 » www.insightgallery.com
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