“To bring art to the streets” was the initial idea behind the artistic project “Anno Equitum”, integrated into the Chinese New Year celebrations, this year welcoming the Year of the Horse, the curator of the exhibition, Mica Costa Grande explains.
The concept of “Anno Equitum” began with another project called “República das Artes”, whose objective is to “bring the arts to the people”.
“I’m not interested in galleries or specialized locations to show art in,” Mica states.
The painted horses are now all on display in the open air plaza in front of Macau Tower.
The intention is that this will be a long-term project, repeated every year for the next 12, so that every animal of the Chinese zodiac is represented on the streets, and painted by local artists to celebrate Chinese New Year. At the end of 12 years, it is planned that a competition will take place to vote for one of the works to be sculpted in bronze and placed in a prominent location in the city.
The works are currently spread around various points of the city, from A-Ma temple, through to the Ruins of St. Paul’s and Tap Seac Square, Macau Tower, and of course the Venetian, the co-organisers of the event.
The project is a joint venture between The Venetian, the supplier of the horses, Mica Costa Grande’s “República das Artes” project, and the exhibition coordinator, Sofia Salgado.
Once it winds up here, there is even the possibility of taking the project on tour to showcase the work of Macau artists around the region, or on the American continent. Cities such as Hong Kong and Guangzhou, New York, Los Angeles, and maybe São Paulo, could be included in the itinerary, according to the curator.
The sculptures display a wide range of artistic interpretations with some covered in gold, others in beads and sequins, some coated in porcelain, and others embellished with wire or decorated with prayers and mystical Tibetan inscriptions. There are even unicorns and winged horses.
The 38 artists include figures with established careers, such as Australian resident in Macau for 25 years, Denis Murrell, and younger, up and coming artists, such as Crystal Chan.
Herself born in the Year of the Horse, local artist Alice Kok entitled her work “Lung ta”, meaning “Wind Horse” in Tibetan. Alice has visited Tibet a number of times and has a strong spiritual connection to the region and to Buddhism. For this exhibition, the artist drew a Tibetan prayer in thangka paint, dedicating all her energy “to the happiness and liberation of all beings” and the “liberation of mind and suffering”.
Fashion designer Barbara Ian thought about using fabric but opted instead to cover her sculpture with sequins, beads, glitter and gold leaf, to represent “a white horse that turns into gold after stepping in a pool of golden water”, says the artist. Underneath, on the belly, lies “a heart” because “money is not enough, love also counts,” she explains.
This is the first experience of street art for jewellery and graphic designer Sofia Bobone. The artist decided to create a wireframe structure around the fiberglass sculpture, giving it two outspread wings and creating a dream-like image of a horse detached from its body and flying in freedom.
Fortes Pakeong Sequeira, who is also born in the Year of the Horse, initially planned an aggressive horse with the spirit of a “warrior”, he explains, but when he received a female horse instead, he decided to embrace a more ‘feminine’ approach and break the image that “many people” have of his work as supposedly being “dark and gothic”. He instead used celestial colours such as “pink, purple and blue sea” making a declaration of love to his family.
