Horses of Lake Ladoga
# 35 (24 in / 61 cm)
From the writer Malaparte comes the tale of the tragic death of a thousand horses in the icy waters of Lake Ladoga in Russia during the winter of 1942. In trying to escape a forest fire caused by aerial bombardments, a hoard of horses jumped into the lake. Despite a recent cold snap, the lake was not frozen solid. As the horses desperately swam toward the other shore, their heads held above the water, a loud noise could be heard: the water suddenly froze, encasing the animals in ice.
The next morning, the sun shone down upon the rigid manes, covered in transparent icicles. Immobilized, each head was a sculpture that in other circumstances would have been a thing of beauty.
“When life and death are so close that they overlap, what is each one’s attitude? How would we react?” – Hubert Reeves
Two winged horses are swirling around one another, the spiral so intense that we are unable to determine whether they are battling or helping each other. The nostrils of one are pointing upwards, in search of air, while the other is shaking its mane, exasperated at not being able to disengage. These equids have no hooves; instead they have claws that are gripping hoof-like weights, which they can drop at will in order to take flight. One has a golden adornment in its mane, while the other has a ring in its nostril.
Anecdote
I am a great lover of popular science works, particularly those of Hubert Reeves. The idea for this sculpture came to me while reading one of his books, in which he explains the fertility of imbalances. To illustrate the phenomenon of supercooling (state of instability), he recounted this tale by Malaparte. This story led me deep into philosophical reflections on human beings, life, and death.
Supercooling: When cooled very rapidly, pure water can reach temperatures below its freezing point without solidifying for quite a long time. But toss a few grains of sand into it, and the water will freeze instantaneously. Likewise, water that is heated very quickly will not necessarily come to a boil when it reaches 100 degrees Celsius. This state is very unstable.
