Humankind's deification of the horse is universal and older than civilization itself. Paintings and carvings of equine beasts have been found in central European caves dating back 30,000 years. The ancient Greeks told their stories about Pegasus, the heroic flying horse, and Arion, the horse with the gift of speech. In ancient China, the embodiment of all things good and pure was the Ki-Lin, a horned horse with the head and scales of a dragon. Arabic texts describe how the Prophet Muhammad was carried from earth to the Seventh Heaven by a winged horse with the face of a man. The Valkyries, daughters of the Norse god Odin, rode their winged horses over Viking battlefields, choosing who would die.

Over the millennia we have lived with them, identified with them, revered them, befriended them, and loved them. Yet we've also feared them for the great power they possess. They are more to us than simple barnyard animals. They are, in every sense, living mythic creatures.

My work has traditionally explored the intricate interaction between humans and nature and the precarious relationship we have with the world around us. In this latest group of large-scale paintings, "When Horses Were Gods," I am exploring this relationship through realistic oil-on-canvas renderings, and presenting it in a way that taps into the mythic versions that still lurk in the deepest recesses our souls.

Depicted as supreme beast as well as mythological and historical symbol, in the horse we can see the sacred history of ourselves, our passage through time. They take us into our own dim past and show us our darker self. On horseback we become invincible. A warrior joined with that cosmic horse, the four legged god; the horse as a heroic symbol, a mythical beast ridden by great warriors, and the gods.

I don't try to bring out the mythic majesty of my subjects by depicting them with wings plunked on their backs, halos glowing over their heads, or any other such melodramatic filigree. It is precisely the elements I choose not to show that gives my new paintings their power. In contrast to our preconceptions of "realism" in paintings (as well as in what seems to be in contradiction to the exhibit's grandiose title), the paintings in this show are surprisingly stark.

Each portrays a single subject against a black background. There is no location or context to distract viewers. The large scale (over four by five feet) fills their range of vision when viewed up close, and also dominates any space when seen from afar.

I am also trying to defy expectations by choosing not to represent the animal's body. No majestic stance, no rippling muscles--this image I am leaving for the mind's eye. I am interested in depicting a literal deification of the horse, not a cartoon Pegasus flying heroically through the heavens. My intention is to pull the ancient, pre-cognitive image of the mighty, mythic deity from the deep recesses of our collective human psyche: that dark, prehistoric place from which the horse god was truly born.