“Art is perception — none of it is wrong…”
Gerard Sekoto, “Police Man on a White Horse in the Fields” (1959)
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gerard sekoto
does not arrive gently
he enters
with a hand
seeking hard truth
here—
the horse—
white dragged across the surface
like light pulled through dust—
weight in every broken stroke
and the man—
held upright
but not still
authority trembles in the lines
a uniform that cannot quite settle
into certainty
sekoto remembers
while he paints
south africa rides with him—
not so much as place—
but as pressure
inside the wrist
the field fractures
into color and push—
nothing passive here
even the sky leans
horse and rider
not posed—
but passing through—
as if the moment
could not be trusted
to stay—
so he breaks it
into motion—
…keeps it alive
…never letting it rest
the artist
works against the staid—
against the still—
nothing allowed
to sit quietly
the horse is white
…but carries weather
…and labor
…and time
paint laid thick
then pulled apart—
like memory resisting form
the rider—
a dark presence—
not outlined
but insisted
power suggested
then unsettled
in the same breath
the artist knows
how images lie—
so he refuses completion
the field dissolves
into movement—
…color unsettled
…direction uncertain
everything shifts
just enough—
…so nothing becomes fixed
…nothing becomes owned
horse moves forward—
man moves with it—
but the painting
moves faster—
beyond them—
into something
that cannot be held—
only felt
and even that
only for a moment
everything leans
slightly forward—
as if escape
is already happening
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Original DDE™ art: ”Homage to Sekoto”by: rob kistner © 4/21/26
Gerard Sekoto (12/9/13 – 3/20/93), was a South African artist and musician. A pioneer of urban Black Art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal. His “Yellow Houses – a Street in Sophiatown” (1940) was the first work by a black artist purchased by a South African municipal gallery. (See below)
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rob kistner © 4/21/26