Year: 2021
Medium: oil, acrylic, canvas, wood
Dimensions: 190 x 165 x 25 cm (74 3/4 x 65 x 9 7/8 in.)
Acquired from ShugoArts, 2022
On a double (paired) wooden frame, a horse is holding a paintbrush in its mouth and gazing towards the viewers. Kobayashi continues to refer to portraits of horses as “Portrait of the artist”. Instead of starting to paint after stretching canvas over a wooden frame, as if the artist states it is already “too late”, Kobayashi stretches the canvas and mounts it onto the wooden frame, then begins painting simultaneously with the preparatory actions. Kobayashi’s works established a sense of individuality. Inside the atelier, Kobayashi’s body, the wooden frame, the canvas, as well as the paint are blended together, becoming one and generating to a portrait as another identity of the artist. The wooden frame is not merely a structure that supports the painting, but also acts as bones and flesh. The canvas becomes the skin that is enclosed with bones and flesh, the paint runs through it as if blood vessels circulate in the body. “Portrait of the artist” is not just a simple depiction of likeness, perhaps it serves as an act of rebirth for the artist himself, Masato Kobayashi.
