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In
this photo taken Feb. 9, 2010, Buggs, the 13-year-old, stock-bred
horse trained to paint, in the barn near
Iron Ridge
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IRON RIDGE - Buggs clinches the wooden handle
of a paintbrush in his teeth and stands before an easel. Earlier, the
13-year-old stock-bred horse added broad, gray brushstrokes to a canvas
board. Now, with gobs of yellow paint dripping from a narrow brush, he is
ready to add a little detail.
He slowly extends the brush toward the
canvas. When he feels it touch, he bobs his head up and down, creating
short, swirls of yellow along the bottom of his latest masterpiece.
Carol Jensen, the proud owner of Buggs, takes
the brush from his mouth and replaces it with a treat. She surveys his work
and decides to follow up with black.
Jensen and Buggs have partnered on paintings
for about two years. She read about a Florida woman who taught her horse to
paint and thought it could be a good way to keep Buggs engaged during the
winter. She quickly found that if she didn't occupy Buggs' time he would get
into mischief — pulling siding from the barn or harassing her three other
horses.
"Horses need a job to do. Especially
this horse because he's like the really smart, high-energy kid in the
classroom. If he's not challenged, he gets into trouble. He gets bored and
then starts acting up," Jensen said.
Using positive reinforcement and repetition
Jensen first taught Buggs how to hold a brush in his mouth. Then, she taught
him how to move his head about, thusly painting a canvas. Within a month
Buggs' had completed his first work: a gray background overlaid with patches
of mustard yellow, a black design swooping through the middle looks vaguely
Asian, while thick traces of vibrant red accent the work.
"I thought it turned out really well. I
like Asian art, and it looks very Asian to me."
This first painting was on stretched canvas,
but Jensen had to switch to canvas boards because Buggs tends to poke the
brush through canvases — but his work hasn't suffered from the transition.
He continued to churn out — and sometimes sell — paintings. One was
commissioned by his veterinarian, another by the family of a young horse
enthusiast.
Today, the walls of Jensen's living room are
lined with Buggs' original work. She also documents every step of Buggs'
painting with photography.
"I think it's important to have it
documented, otherwise people won't believe it," Jensen said.
It is hard to believe. A lot of things about
Buggs are hard to believe. Painting aside, he also plays a plastic keyboard,
drops a basketball into a 3-foot hoop, gives a wide smile when greeted by
visitors, and nods his head up and down when he hears Jensen talking about
him.
With his long blond bangs spilling over wide
eyes and a mustache speckled with yellow acrylic paint curling beneath the
white diamond on the tip of his nose, it is clear that Buggs bubbles with
charisma.
But does Buggs have artistic vision?
"Horses have a hard time seeing at the
end of their nose because of their eye position. I don't know what he's
seeing. I don't know if he's just enjoying the activity and the fact that he
is getting rewarded for it," Jensen said.
Jensen, an artist in her own right, prefers
working in black prints and pastels to recreate the landscape rolling around
her 74-acre farmstead, but she still lends her artistic eye to Buggs to
create his abstract anomalies. She picks the colors and can rotate the
canvas to determine where Buggs' attention is directed.
One thing, however, is certain. Buggs visibly
enjoys the act of painting — and furthermore, the act of pleasing people.
When Jensen acquired Buggs from a friend about four years ago that wasn't
the case. He was withdrawn, sullen.
"I think he felt really bad when she
gave him up. I think it hurt his feelings. I think he was depressed,"
Jensen said. "His whole personality changed once I started giving him
something to do. Giving him something to occupy his mind really turned him
around."
Jensen says Buggs has enough personality for
two horses, and she is right. It's hard not to smile back when he greets you
with his wide, goofy smile.
With that said, Buggs likely won't unseat
Jackson Pollock as the king of modern abstract painting anytime soon. But
abstract art is defined as expression that is independent of the world's
visual references — so perhaps no one is more qualified for it than Buggs.
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