Call Me Horse For Now

Throughout the artist career he has substituted a horse for himself in many of his works. This ploy is reminiscent of many paintings whereby Picasso substituted a bull as his alter-ego. Centrally located, standing tall upon his hind legs the horse towers over the human figures below. Notably, the artist again uses the perspective of painting figures from above as if the viewer were looking from the vantage point of the seeing eye of God. This approach, used over and over again is one of the hallmarks of many of Marquez’s works. The horse stands erect as a feverish mob acts out the narrative below. The artist utilizes four milestones from twentieth century painting, portraying a scene of chaos where the figures appear to be cutting and tearing up the paintings.

Jerry Saltz's recent essay in the Village Voice “Seeing Dollar Signs,-is the art market making us stupid?” is cogent to the narrative of this particular painting. Saltz writes, “To some, the art market is a self-help movement, a private consumer vortex of dreams, a cash-addled image-addicted drug that makes consumers prowl art capitals for the next paradigm shift. This set seeks out art that looks like things they already know: anything resembling Warhol, Richter, Koons, Tuymans, Prince, and Wool could be good; any male painter in his thirties could be great.”

Enlisting this premise the artist parodies the contemporary art world illuminati and in so doing suggests a paradox. Explicitly this self referential narrative conveys a sense of fatigue and frustration which is palpable on the part of this artist as is surely representative of most living artists working today, yet the central figure’s posture and placement would suggest the subtle nuance of hope. The artist recalls a quote by Tom Wolfe, “The notion that the public accepts or rejects anything in modern art …is merely Romantic fiction….The game is completed and the trophies distributed long before the public knows what has happened.”