Terrain (bridle for horses), 2024
400 small porcelain sculptures
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens
Nikos Tranos’s Terrain (bridle for horses) is an impressive clay installation featuring 400 horse-and-rider figures. Evoking scenes from a battlefield, the work is a comment on violence and oppression suffered equally by men and animals. Its title refers to the bit, a tool used to establish control over the horse, symbolising the weaponisation of horses, their use as war machines. The work’s distinct visual language, comprising forms where primitivism meets sci-fi, articulates a universe of unremitting conflict. The fragile yet resilient nature of clay coupled with the work’s icy colour palette reinforce the scene’s dramatic quality, prompting the viewer to consider violence as a constitutive element of the male dominated history of humankind, and the animal as part of the invisible fatalities of war.
Nikos Tranos was born in Zarakes, Greece; he lives and works in Athens, Greece.
The artistic practice of Nikos Tranos revolves around sculpture and installation, exploring existential themes, time, and human vulnerability. Working with materials such as metal and clay, he creates handcrafted, imposing yet fragile structures that reflect on the body, trauma, and emotional tension. His installations reshape the space and function in a theatrical or interactive manner, activating the viewer’s senses and reactions. His work evokes a sense of precariousness, inviting contemplation on the boundaries between strength and fragility.
