Red Horse

Joaquin Gasgonia Palencia (The Philippines)

Born in Manila on June 7, 1959, he finished high school at the Ateneo de Naga in Naga City, Philippines, and graduated with a baccalaureate in Zoology, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, after which he proceeded to the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines in Manila, graduating with an M.D. in 1985. He is currently doing course work for a PhD. in Education at the University of the Philippines Open University and is directly involved in establishing supplementary feeding programs to impoverished public elementary school students in his home town Daet, Camarines Norte.

He started painting and sculpting in 1983, and to date have staged more than 40 exhibitions both in Manila and abroad. Having garnered awards abroad for his sculpture and paintings, he has had commissions from educational, hospitality and corporate institutions. He has a strong interest in video art as well as photography. His involvement with Public Art started in 2005, with the critically- acclaimed sculpture exhibition entitled Trans- at the Ayala Greenbelt Pebble Park in Makati City, followed by an award-winning public sculpture entry, Ocean Dragon, to the Sea Art Festival of the 2006 Busan Biennale which was recently reviewed at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst University Gallery in Art in the Public Sphere this year. In December 2006, he showed Artifact at the Cairo Museum of Art as a Special Invited Guest of the 10th Cairo International Biennale. His video installation, Banca, won an Award of Merit at the 1st Kobe Biennale 2007 held last September in Kobe City, Japan. Currently, he is working on his entry for the Sculpture by the Sea 2008 in Sydney, Australia for October.

Mostly an instinctive artist, Joaquin Gasgonia Palencia draws from emotional and mental inspiration. His involvement in public art has made him very sensitive to cultural undercurrents for site-specific sculptures and installations and believes that his work need to be grounded in the culture and perspective of the surrounding environment in order for it to reach its fullest development as Art. It has enabled him to develop skills working with other disciplines like architecture, interior design, landscape design, as well as government agencies and institutions.

Design Synopsis of Red Horse

In Chinese folk lore, the Horse that runs the fastest and works the hardest sweats blood. He thus take this tale as inspiration for Red Horse, an abstract sculpture drawn with dynamic ribbons of painted stainless steel, signifying its speed, grace, elegance and hard-working nature. Together with the Dragon, the Horse has been entwined with Chinese culture for 5,000 years, with Chinese emperors enjoying dressage since 206 BC, antedating the polo games of the Tang Dynasty.

Red Horse is an abstract sculpture taking inspiration from the strength and beauty of the horse, finished with high-gloss, hard-wearing, industrial paints for beauty, durability and easy maintenance. Strongly connecting with humans emotionally, it is an icon both local and global, both traditional and modern.

It is his intent that people using Red Horse would sit on its undulating body and experience the rush of color and form, while transforming this aggregation of steel and paint into a dynamic work of art that honors a majestic being that, for thousands of years, has served Man and his Industry wholeheartedly.

Information provided by Sun Hung Kai Properties Charitable Fund Limited.