Horse

The majestic horse becomes Kawayan de Guia’s homage to the art of Cinema, his father, and the beloved medium of film. The sculpture is formed from discarded film tapes reworked as horns, the torotot traditionally blown by Filipino children to usher in the New Year.  The equine figure stands with film reels by its hooves, a monument to Cinema which was first introduced in the Philippines during the last years of the Spanish occupation and fully embraced by Filipinos during the decades of American colonization that followed.  The work also recalls the artist’s own personal connections with movie-making: his father, Kidlat Tahimik (Eric de Guia) is an award-winning independent filmmaker and artist. Amidst the pronouncements of film’s inevitable demise in the face of digital technology, de Guia offers his Horse, (2011) as a talisman against this dark fate.