24th April – 15th June 2009
Giudecca 795 Gallery

Since 25th April the Giudecca 795 Gallery in Venice has been given exclusivity in Italy of Cholla’s art, namely a really original American artist: he is a horse! On display thirty extremely coloured watercolours painted by the ‘artist’ that paints spontaneously without any training by holding the brush in his mouth and picking the colour by himself. He is even described as a huge and semi-wild horse, so it is still more amazing that he is able to paint tiny and delicate watercolours with small and graceful movements.
Cholla’s paintings were displayed in the USA, from San Francisco to New York, and now they will be displayed in overseas countries. In Italy the success for this wonderful Mustang aged 23 arrived in 2008 after the special mention he got by the President of the Jury at the Arte Laguna Competition.

Cholla is now considered one of the four most highly rated animals in the world, after the chimpanzee Congo that used to paint in the 50’s and whose paintings impressed Picasso too and were sold by auction. The public seems to appreciate his works without even knowing he is a horse. Scientists and art critics are studying and discussing the matter. The well-known ethologist Danilo Mainardi, on the art gallery’s request, has examined the videos and the works, stating that this gorgeous, intelligent and well treated horse looks happy when ‘painting’. In short, it is actually an exhibition of a really unique artist in his genre. Tania Danieli