Looking at Art

This horse-head fragment looks like something an archaeologist might find on a dig where Greeks or Romans lived. The surface of the bronze appears to have weathered the ages, but this sculpture is new. It is so convincingly antique because the artist, Lina Binkele, studied anthropology for years before she began to carve plaster to cast in metal.

Leonardo da Vinci, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Edgar Degas and other artists mastered the torso and strength of the horse in equestrian sculpture. Binkele, who lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia, continues the tradition in a masterful manner. She understands the physical presence of the equine, its power and willfulness. The open mouth, flared nostrils and taut neck muscles suggest an intensely vital creature. Yet we quickly see this animal is going nowhere-except perhaps to the home of a horse lover.

Binkele's sculptures of horses can be seen at Gardner Colby Gallery in Old Naples.

-Mark Ormond

Mark Ormond is a Southwest Florida writer and art consultant.