Theo Mackaay

Laughing Horse Bronze Sculpture Animal Laugh Contemporary

circa 2020

Theo Mackaay works with recognizable shapes: women, men and animals, with a pointer at the primal form. Archetypal motifs like warriors, women, horses, archers and loving couples are created with his own signature. An example of this work is the well-known Gouden Kalf, the big prize of the Nederlands Film Festival. It was designed in 1980 by Mackaay and commissioned by Jos Stelling, film director and initiator of the festival.

There have been big developments in Mackaay's work after the calf, but basic forms are still to be found in his work. The renewal in his work has been an internal fight between the two sides of his brain —the wild artist animal and the changed, peaceful, contemplative sculptor. The last one won! Not only did Mackaay change as a human being, his work changed with him. Big, tough Expressionist bronze and stone statues featuring the woman and animal as his favorite subjects changed into touching, intimate bronze sculptures.

In the early work of Mackaay, the masters of the past were more visible, like Marino Marini and Ossip Zadkine. Now it seems, the artist is letting go of the past and has found his own formal language, after all the highs and lows in his life.

Mackaay's wandering through France, Italy and China brought him to Malaga in Spain, his current residence. Maybe it owes to the Mediterranean Sea or the Spanish sun, but the fact remains that Mackaay is today closer to himself — a rough shell that dares to show its delicacy.

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