Four responses to works in the exhibition Horse Gossip: Stole (1)

Stole

The raw linen’s the thing here. Whether it is a space, a surface, a background -– or something else, is up for grabs. The temptation to search for a narrative to fit the title, the name is undeniable. What or who is stealing in - or out? A contained mist, perhaps? A boat in fog on some unnamed, vast sea, (only a portion of which we see here)?
A flag? A ghost? A pointer to elsewhere...? Stole is creeping up on me; its few lines are barely a presence and yet it states it position clearly. It is here. It is most definitely here and not easily ignored. It’s a flash, a marker, a distinct being, a shape I make with a fuzzy middle in an open, airy element. The uncertainty of what I am seeing is unsettling. I’m disorientated. The way up is clear; what is underneath, less so. I’m making up a horizon, or at least a fixed place- setting for this spectral vision. What it means is a redundant question. The point is (and it is a point) is that it is here, confronting me, while minding its own business, travelling on, regardless. Stole is not still. It’s on its way somewhere, while I remain transfixed. I feel queasy. I want to know what it is telling me. There’s a message here in its haste to realise itself, as if I’ve caught it mid-animation, moving to its next frame, transforming into an other.

Libby Anson

Libby Anson trained as a painter and printmaker and has worked as a curator in public and private galleries. She is now a writer and professional and creative developmnet coach and lecturer.