According to Chinese astrology, we are soon entering the Year of the Fire Horse. It inspired me to create a strange, motionless image for our unsettled time.
In Chinese astrology, the Fire Horse is associated with power, courage, movement, and will. It is a sign traditionally linked to action, independence, and breakthroughs. The fire element, which appears only once every sixty years, intensifies everything. Energy becomes heightened, passionate, and often boundless. Years of the Fire Horse are commonly described as periods when the world is set in motion, for better or worse, when old structures are challenged and the consequences of action, or the lack of it, become unmistakably clear.
In my interpretation, the horse is red. It sits completely still, doing nothing, while a curtain beside it is burning. The image may reflect a condition familiar to contemporary life. Knowledge exists without response. Responsibility exists without movement. Urgency is suspended in comfort.
The image may be perceived as an accusation, but that is not my intention. The horse is not foolish. It is not unaware. It knows that the curtain is burning, and yet it remains seated.
It can also be read as an image of power confronted with danger and failing to respond. The horse embodies a moment when knowledge is abundant, warnings are clear, and decisive action is endlessly postponed.
In Chinese philosophy, there is a deep understanding that action must occur at the right moment. Acting too early can be just as destructive as acting too late. But patience can also turn into passivity. This is where the paradox of the Fire Horse emerges, a symbol of movement trapped in stillness.
I try to show paralysis as something recognizable and human, not only personal, but collective. The Year of the Fire Horse is not about catastrophe itself, but about the silence that allows catastrophe to grow.
As a young man, I wrote haiku-inspired poems. That impulse was reawakened while working on this image. A haiku does not point to solutions. It observes a moment. It reveals the tension between what we know and what we do, between intention and action. This haiku emerged directly from the image. It has lost its strict syllable count in translation from Norwegian, but this is accepted in modern haiku poetry.
The curtain is on fire
The horse does nothing now
Stillness everywhere
Insight without action is unused energy. And stillness, when we know better, undermines everything that has previously been done in the hope of creating a better world.
The image is now finished in poster format and will soon be included in the GaffGaff Galleri Universe. I hope it represents, for some of you, a quiet call to action.
Disclaimer:
Every image in the GaffGaff universe is the result of a creative exchange between me and artificial intelligence. I use an old smartphone and a spark of an idea to collaborate with digital tools, shaping visual expressions I find beautiful, amusing, or thought-provoking.
These are not copies of existing works, but original compositions created through text prompts and experimentation. I call it Digitalpoetism, a visual language that explores the frontier between human emotion and machine creativity.
My project does not imitate; it plays. It does not quote; it creates. For me, the point is not whether it qualifies as “art,” but whether it stirs something in the person who looks.
All artworks © GaffGaff Galleri. Protected by copyright. Please do not copy or reuse without permission.
Featured image © Eldar Einarson
