Sign of Equestrian

Sarah Miska and Andy Woll

14.07.23 – 14.10.23

CCA Andratx is pleased to announce Sign of Equestrian, an exhibition of drawings by Sarah Miska and paintings by Andy Woll, which will be on view from July 14 through October 22, 2023. 

The artists, who both live and work in Los Angeles, California, make horses their primary motif—to vastly different effect.

Miska focuses on the culture of horse racing. She works from photographs to render fine details of the animals, their riders, and affiliated adornments: Jockey silks, riding pants, horse “blinders,” and helmets all appear throughout her compositions. The artist captures these elements in her intricate pen and ink drawings, which display careful cross hatchings and a keen application of light and shadow.

The works’ apparent texture and materiality give them a timeless quality; they simultaneously evoke storybook illustrations and contemporary media. Metaphor quickly emerges as Miska’s intricately wrought, pristine surfaces give way to images that suggest the dirt and libidinal energies bound up in equestrian sport. 

Throughout his career, Woll has painted the same subject matter again and again. His broad, textured brush strokes privilege memory, tactility, and iteration over photorealistic likeness. Diego Velázquez’s famed painting Las Meninas (1656) and southern California’s Mount Wilson have both received Woll’s devotional treatment.

When he’s not in his studio, the artist tends horses and competes as a show jumper. His care for his own animals finds its way onto his canvases, where he paints one horse after another, in hues ranging from chestnut to saturated red. Sometimes Woll adds a shadow or a dual-tone backdrop. Yet these individual elements are subservient to the artist’s larger project: He works alla prima, laying down one brushstroke after another, one canvas after the next, to find infinite variation in a simple, familiar form.

While Miska and Woll approach artmaking and equestrian culture from divergent perspectives, their paired works suggest vibrant new terrain for an age-old, vernacular theme.

Sarah Miska (b. 1983, Sacramento, CA) received her BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design in 2007 and her MFA from Art Center College of Design in 2014. She has had solo exhibitions at Lyles & King, New York, NY; Friends Indeed Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Hernando’s Hideaway, Miami, FL; and griff’s, Milwaukee, WI. Miska’s work has been featured in group shows at Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA; Spazio Amanita, Los Angeles, CA; Below Grand, New York, NY; Dread Lounge, Los Angeles, CA; Super Dutchess, New York, NY; and Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, among others. She is a 2022 subject of “In the Studio,” W Magazine’s culture series. Her work belongs in the permanent collections of the Institute for Contemporary Art Miami, Miami, FL and Long Museum, Shanghai, China. Miska lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Andy Woll (b. 1984, Los Angeles, CA) has had recent solo exhibitions at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA and Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, NY. He has also exhibited work in Los Angeles, CA at Blum and Poe, Wilding Cran Gallery, Bonelli Contemporary, Gallery 3209, and Monte Vista Projects. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Exhibition created in collaboration with COLLABORATIONS By Tania & Thomas Asbaek