A Conversation with Equine Artist Anthony Valentino Robinson

(c) Copyright Anthony V. Robinson

A Conversation with Equine Artist Anthony Valentino Robinson

By Gina McKnight

As seen in the June/July 2018 Issue of Arabian Finish Line

No duplication without permission.

“Painting horses is a dynamic exercise in nature

and artistry, delicacy and freedom.”

There are many artists around the world, but it takes a steady hand, charismatic soul, and inner ingenuity to capture the spirit and essence of the Arabian horse. A wild, carefree horse breed, the Arabian is unlike any other in disposition and character. Fine artist, Anthony Valentino Robinson, paints portraits of Arabian horses. He refers to them as the “eccentrics of the horse world.” His paintings are exhibited in homes, businesses, and galleries around the world. His portraits stir hearts and bring thoughts of Bedouin tents far in the desert, where horses fly with high tails and chiseled features. I had the great opportunity to correspond with Anthony and talk about his love of horses, his dedication to his art, and his love for life...

Welcome Anthony!

GM: The world is certainly captivated by the Arabian horse, Anthony. Your art brings the Arabian to many more places, outside the stable yard. When did you first encounter your first horse and how has that impacted your desire to paint the Arabian horse?

AR: Thanks for the question.  It’s fun to have the chance to talk about the Arabian horse because I’ve always seen them as the eccentrics of the horse world and that makes them exciting to paint. I was one of those animal loving kids who’d stick their heads out of the car window whenever the family drove past the racetrack - just to partake in the curious but intoxicating aroma of horse manure. It’s one of those things that has to be in your blood in order to appreciate, or in your nose, one of those. But I think my first horse encounter happened at the county fair in my early years when I was absolutely wide-eyed and wondrous of the colossal draft horses in their stalls as I strolled by - they were so laid back - only their ears seemed to care. Later on, on those days I’d have the opportunity to ride the little portly ponies around the carousel, so round that it was a marvel that our tiny legs could stretch over the saddle. Yet, their slow rolling ride was always enlightening me. The Arabian horse’s disposition is very unlike the draft horses or the ponies - theirs were ones of nonchalance and laxity. Next to them the Arabian is an ADHD teen - with lots of restlessness and fire! And, like a number of the studies I’ve submitted for this article, they are seemingly forever in emotional motion, and that’s a cool challenge to paint!   

GM: Describe your studio and what we might find there - a muse, special lighting, a complacent easel...

AR: Well, there are certainly no complacent easels. My studio is as restless as an Arabian! Things are always getting started, revisited and started again. Though, not necessarily completed. There are lots of rolled canvases in a couple of boxes of unfinished works with definite potential. I self-diagnosed this artistic condition as ‘Da Vinci Syndrome’ - because old Leo had the same anxious exuberance for creating new things but the timely completion of them was far and in between. : )  Not to get me wrong however, I regularly finish what I have to finish - the commissions and such, and usually well ahead of the time clients expect them. It’s just that there’s never a shortage of new personal ideas to put to canvas - only a shortage of time! Of course, the studio also has clusters of old brushes, books and reference stuff here and there, and some canvases leaning on the wall like flowers. There are a number of works in a regular rotation for their spot on an easel. But despite the assumed chaos of a studio with lots of works-in-progress - it’s quite a composed laboratory of art creation.     

GM: When a client asks for a portrait of his/her beloved horse, do they sometimes bring you to the stable? Where in the world has been the most exciting stable you've been to?

AR: Well, I haven’t set my footprint in the royal stables of Dubai yet! That would be breath-gaspingly super!! Though every other horse stable in the world, even those in the smallest villages, do have my initials carved in the barn! Joke, of course. That would be an exciting expedition to take on, though. I am very enthusiastic about visiting horse stables with clients when there’s an opportunity to do so. One needs to be kicked or bitten to get a proper feel of things. : ) Otherwise, the process can comfortably be done via digital photos for commission work. I try to work it out any which way. I’ve been to numerous stables in Ohio where I live; therapeutic riding stables, personal ranches, boarding stables, public farms, race tracks, even mounted police stables. There are a number of Arabian breeding farms within a shoe toss from me that I plan to visit soon.       

(c) Copyright Anthony V. Robinson

GM: To study the horse, delve into the mind of the horse, to partake in their thoughts and ideals, is a soulful, almost heavenly act. How do you capture their charm and enchantment?

AR: I do like to keep a painting as free as life itself - experiencing the lessons that the brush and the paint have to tell. In representing the horse, especially the Arabian, this is a journey of form, grace, strength, exuberance, and history. My desire, as with most painterly painters - from the ancients to now - is to create a living, breathing masterpiece. Something that can sit alongside life itself and be equally intriguing, equally wondrous, equally alive. This is like performing magic most of the time.  It takes a considerable amount of life experience, trial and error, and mental discipline to keep things simple and free. My paintings usually go through a full life process - from babyhood to adulthood, death to resuscitation. Sometimes you have to let one sit in time-out until you can clearly assess it.  Painting horses is a dynamic exercise in nature and artistry, delicacy and freedom.         

GM: Each painting seems to have a life that is anxious to jump off the canvas. What mediums do you use to create a masterpiece?

AR: I am primarily an oil painter now. The earlier half of my life saw me as a pastelist. Both mediums are great for spontaneity creation, but oils allow me to have a go at more ambitious projects - at least in terms of scale and durability. I usually use a comfortable bit of stand oil medium throughout the painting process for fluidity, and the brushes are usually softer rounds. Though, a number of paintings I’ve made were by any means necessary. I’ve painted on every kind of fabric surface through trial and terror - from the coarsest linens to the thinnest cottons. Yet, years ago, I ran into a universal weave cotton that makes me the happiest.        

GM: A seasoned artist, you have painted many horses. Do you have a favorite in your collection?

AR: Every one of my horse paintings seem to be my favorite one - but only in its earliest stages. It’s that free and impressionable state at the beginning that hold a timeless notion of something once non-existent being made now material. A lot of the blank canvas still remains, but the anticipation of a miraculous happening of form and revelation is crisp and tantalizing! It’s a half-state you wish you could linger in forever - and yet, you must give it arms and legs. I photograph the stages along the way for most of my paintings to revisit the simplicity later if it beckons me. Horses are generally very kind people, so I look back at all the past portraits equally fondly. I guess when I have to do a picture of a horse who has just bitten or kicked me - which hasn’t occurred yet - that one would then be my most favorite of all!  ;)

GM: Where on earth is your favorite place to paint and be creative?  

AR: I have an imaginary studio, beaming with sky-light and just off of a luscious garden where various animals, horses, birds, bears can come up to the open window and watch me work, or make fun of me. The bear would get it into the studio on occasion and help create a masterpiece of chaos! No, but I’m sure a number of super lucky artist around the planet have this very space to work in. I do remain chronically creative everywhere I go - simply because the world has an ocean of ideas waiting to be netted. 

GM: Where are you currently exhibiting?

AR: It’s funny, I’ve never really been an exhibitor outside of the internet realm.  I’ve always been kind of a private artist.  I’ve done a few shows there and here early on but mostly I’ve lived a commission existence from portrait job to portrait job. I am planning periodic exhibitions of my horse art and other animal paintings on my website and on other social media that will be thematic and run for a few months duration. Most of these works will be available for sale as originals and archival prints.  I know that artists typically feel that their work is less than what they want it to be or that it is never quite finished - and I am one of those. But I am very enthusiastic with the process of making art - all of its eccentricities and life lessons - and with the opportunity to offer it to the world for relativity and history.  

GM: In your own words, describe the horse, it's beauty and glamour...

AR: I once met a horse at a boarding stable who was just freed into an outdoor enclosure before its training session. I was enlightened by its spiritedness - it being an anxious hot-blood from the Arabian Peninsula….  Its dark dappled presence fronted with me and he flexed its neck and head and his eyes as strangely as they would go. I was his challenger - me, the spectator at the fence - to a dusty race across the pen with his flared nose held airborne and either eye glaring at mine at every turn, and both ears in constant swivel. Ebony was the mane that fluttered wild in every stride and fractious was the tail followed; a gallop, a prance, an improvised trot, a strut, a jagged halt - that was meant to assess my willingness to spar or cowardess. I remained calm, but breathed through my nose with reverence of the equine deity in my presence. He rounded his fourth turn and that was all he needed, for he ceased his motion and stopped tall in the middle of the pen, and his dust cleared. An astounding being in horse flesh - eyes as deep in tone as his neck, nose splotched pink at the lip, ears alive and ready on his head.  I saw him vividly for the first time. And he allowed me to stay. We inhaled and exhaled with symbiosis, and the planet did silence around us. I took the moment to finally blink, and the horse chewed the grass in his mouth.   

Connect with Anthony… anthonyathiseasel.com

Gina McKnight is a freelancer from Ohio USA. gmcknight.com

(c) Copyright Anthony V. Robinson

(c) Copyright Anthony V. Robinson