Lmst

新年快乐！马年大吉！马上开心！
Happy Year of the Fire Horse!
For the occasion, I made a little "study" on the character 馬, which means horse.
Read here https://art.echoingfrog.ca/year-of-the-fire-horse-triptych for a meaning of the piece.

#Art #VisualArt #ChineseCalligraphy #calligraphy #BlackAndWhite #ink #brush #seal #ChineseSeal #YearOfTheHorse #LunarNewYear #horse #FireHorse #马 #馬 #马年 #丙午 #ChineseIdioms #power #fire #balance #change

A Chinese calligraphy triptych of the character mǎ, which means horse, in three different styles.
The left side mǎ is a more traditional script but with a twist, where strokes are a bit messy and blurry, the "hooves" of the horse almost like the ink was splashed. At the top left corner of the character is a swatch of red/orange paint to represent fire.
The middle mǎ is in semi-cursive, with the top part of the character that seems to be hanging off a cliff edge.
The right mǎ is also in semi-cursive but a different style. In this one, the lower part of the character, the legs or hooves of the horse, is made up of one single wavy stroke, almost like a wave, and seems to be pushing the rest of the character ahead, like ten thousand horses galloping.
In between the characters, from left to right, written in regular traditional script are: bǐng wǔ which means Year of the Fire Horse, xuán yá lè mǎ which means "to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice" or to ward off disaster at the critical moment, and wàn mǎ bēn téng which means "ten thousand horses galloping", or going full steam ahead.
Top right corner seal says chàng xiǎng, meaning to give free rein to one's imagination. It has an irregular oval shape, it's a zhuwen or yang seal (red character on white background), written in ancient bronzeware script. Bottom left corner seal is my Chinese name Dài yànlíng. It is square, it's a baiwen or yin seal (white character on red background) and written in seal script.

Year of the Fire Horse Triptych

February 17, 2026

新年快乐！马年大吉！马上开心！
Happy New Year! Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Horse! May you be happy from now on!

For the occasion, I made a little “study” on the character 馬, which means horse. Three different styles that became a triptych.

There are two idioms I like related to the horse, which could seem antithetical at first. But I think they actually complement and balance each other.

悬崖勒马 xuán yá lè mǎ

which, literally, means “to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice”.
This idiom means to wake up to danger or to ward off disaster at the critical moment, to stop before it's too late.
To me, it tells the importance of staying vigilant so as to avert danger before crossing the point of no return. But it also emphasizes the fact that course correction, or even redemption if we are being a bit dramatic, is always possible, even at the very last moment.
And I think we've come to a point in history when we're at the edge of the precipice and it's time to change the course of things, as hard as it may be to rein in a horse that is on fire.
And so it takes me to the second idiom.

万马奔腾 wàn mǎ bēn téng

which, literally, means “(like) ten thousand horses galloping”. In other words, going full steam ahead.
The poets of the Song Dynasty started using this image of sheer grandeur to describe the sometimes overwhelming power of natural elements, like waterfalls or ocean waves.
There's a sense of momentum that feels unstoppable and powerful. So, it might seem in complete contradiction with the previous idiom. We could feel some sense of powerlessness in the face of this vicious cycle of endless destruction we're currently in, and like it's impossible to actually avoid falling off the cliff.
But we could also think of those ten thousand horses galloping as the energy of collective action. There is power in numbers and I think, or at least I want to believe, that there are many more of us who want to change the course of things to ride towards a better future than the few leading us into the precipice.

So there you have it, with the power of the collective, we can still stop all this and decide to go full steam ahead in a different direction. Of course, it won't be easy. This year is the year of the Fire Horse 丙午. The Heavenly stem 丙 is yang fire and the Earthly branch 午 is also yang fire, so not a very balanced year to say the least.
But just like the horse, let's use our vitality and our passion, let's be brave, let's be relentless, and let's be wise. And with the unstoppable power of an ocean wave, we'll be able to balance and control the fire.

This triptych can be read both ways.
If we are reading it right to left, as were written historical Chinese texts, and as calligraphy is still usually written, then it would be: with the unstoppable power of ten thousand horses galloping, we can avert disaster and rein in the one horse at the edge of the precipice, tame the fire horse and find balance again.

And if we are reading it left to right, as in modern day writings, then it would be: the fire horse, with all the unbalanced power of its yang fire, has become uncontrollable and has led us to the edge of the precipice. But it is still time to rein it in, and with the balancing power of an ocean wave like ten thousand horses galloping, we can change the course of things and ride away towards a better future.

#Art #VisualArt #ChineseCalligraphy #calligraphy #BlackAndWhite #ink #brush #seal #ChineseSeal #YearOfTheHorse #LunarNewYear #horse #FireHorse #马 #馬 #马年 #丙午 #ChineseIdioms #power #fire #balance #change