Hekney Horse

In the blueprint ‘Hekney Horse’, Chaykin creates a watch in the form of a horse's head. The case follows the shape of the muzzle: an elongated silhouette, pointed ears, large nostrils. The upper and lower straps continue the composition and form a single vertical axis with the head. The orange sections of the strap are decorated with an ornament, and a yellow watercolour stroke on the horse's forehead reads as a forelock. The large round eyes, surrounded by concentric rings, recall watch indicators and become the semantic centre of the image. The slightly open mouth, with its teeth and red tongue, gives the image an ironic, almost grotesque character.

The blueprint is executed in mixed media. The pencil drawing sets the precise geometry of the image and gives the form an engineered crispness. With watercolour, the artist works up the details of the horse: translucent layers build the volume of the muzzle and the texture of the coat, while saturated accents on the eyes and tongue bring them to the fore. Fine guidelines remain visible on the sheet, dividing it into sections and recalling the construction basis of the work.