Caro Suerkemper

Caro Suerkemper often works with fragments of old figurines or dolls, but this time she moulded an entire wooden horse from a merry-go-round. After a first, more or less straightforward copy she made two more casts, which she then bent to her imagination to represent them together in free fall, moments before they hit the ground. A third work shows three horses falling backwards, their elegant legs reaching towards the sky as if to look for solid ground. Their intertwined bodies become abstract volumes, the eyes counterpoints in a complex Baroque composition that obeys the laws of equilibrium. The sculptures seem to defy gravity, but it’s a delicate balance. “Horses are prey animals,” Suerkemper says, “that’s why they have a 350° range of vision. They need to flee at the first sign of danger.”