We Are The Industry

These works are a series of images of Thoroughbred race horses.  I think there are few things more thrilling in the world than watching a thoroughbred do what he was born to do, and that is run. When you bet two dollars on a horse, it’s like he becomes yours for a few thrilling minutes.  Whether you are a horse lover, a horse player, or you condemn the thoroughbred industry as cruel and unnecessary, the beauty, strength and power of these creatures is awe inspiring. Horse Racing is one of the oldest human sports, and it’s origins can be traced back to as early as 4500 BC , when nomadic tribesmen of central Asia domesticated the first horses.

In these works I’ve tried to represent the subjects in the simplest terms, using only black paint and occasional highlighting colors to define the forms represented. I was inspired by the elegance and simplicity of Chinese Brush paintings that I was exposed by my high school art teacher Ms. Gail Fairbanks, but in these works I have applied this eastern technique to a very western image, the modern thoroughbred race horse.

 My time as an Artist in Residence has been quite the experience. As an art student, I’ve gotten used to procrastinating assignments and making work in my dorm room at 4 in the morning It’s very new and different having a set time to come in and work every day, It’s also been very new and rewarding to work completely under my own direction, without the set parameters of someone else’s assignment.

-Elizabeth Sousa

“If you've never been crazy about thoroughbreds it's because you've never been around where they are much and don't know any better. They're beautiful. There isn't anything so lovely and clean and full of spunk and honest and everything as some race horses.”

                                   -Sherwood Anderson, “I Want to Know Why”