Horsepower
Spring Group Show - John G Irvin Gallery, Central Bank
27th March - 12th May 2026
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review
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by Kevin Nance
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Here in the self-proclaimed Horse Capital of the World, we naturally see a good deal of equine art. Some of it is spectacularly good — I’m thinking of Gwen Reardon’s magnificently detailed racehorse sculptures in Thoroughbred Park and Jocelyn Russell’s majestic statue of Secretariat on Old Frankfort Pike — and some outrageously bad. The rest falls somewhere in between.
“Horsepower,” Arts Connect’s new group show of equine paintings by Kentucky artists at Central Bank’s John G. Irvin Gallery, is solidly in the third group, with several pieces delivering drama, surprise and insight on a level well above the mean. The finest work here eschews the naturalism and exactitude of traditional sporting art in favor of a search for the mystery and magic of horses. Shivangi Adhikary’s colorfully theatrical trio of works showcases horses as mythical, all but divine creatures, while Sarita Bohra’s white-maned beauty, complete with an amulet around its neck, seems to have strolled out of a book of fairy tales. Sharon Duncan’s “First Ride,” Jacqueline Rolek’s “Boy’s Horsepower — Now and Then” and Julie Payne’s “Hippocampus” explore
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the once-central role of horses in the imaginative lives of children.
Best of all are two pastel works by the wonderfully skilled Lesa Aker that show her artistic vision beginning to catch up to her advanced technique. In “El Chocolat,” a chestnut horse careens toward us out of a dusty haze that might be the past. And in “Into the West,” a team of workhorses draws us toward a sunset that could stand in for the American West of old. The image turns viewers into pioneers, holding the reins in our hands. Other standouts here include Connie Tucker’s watercolor “Horse Race,” which captures some of the heart-pounding action we associate with the best racing photography, and James Cox’s slightly disturbing “Beyond the Horse,” which suggests an equine X-ray. Then there’s a striking series of highly stylized tissue-paper collages by Gretchen Bainum; two in particular, “Horse on a Frosty Morning” and “Summer Excess,” have an abstract graphic quality that feels wonderfully fresh. Valerie Timmons’s oil paintings “Horse Running in Sand” and “Majestic” are similarly reductive, in a good way, as is Macel Hamilton’s acrylic “Colorful Horse,” accented with surprising splashes of blue and purple. A horse of a different color, indeed. |
