A Reno artist will be making his international debut, having been invited to exhibit his work in a juried art competition in Italy. He won't be going abroad, however, to bask in the aura of great Italian masters. Instead, this artist will remain at home, contemplating his next masterpiece while gnawing on his paintbrushes - between mouthfuls of hay. Cholla is a mustang-quarter horse mix whose paintings have been featured in art exhibits from San Francisco to New York and now overseas. His creation, “The Big Red Buck,” was selected for exhibit in the 3rd International Art Prize Arte Laguna, Oct. 18-Nov. 2, Mogliano Veneto, Italy. More than 3,000 paintings, sculptures and photographs were entered in this year's competition. In painting, there were 1,770 from artists around the world. A spokeswoman for the competition acknowledges there was some consternation among the judges when they realized Cholla was of the equine species. “We have to admit that we did not expect the application of a horse,” Arte Laguna spokeswoman Cristina Del Favero said. “At first we were very perplexed, but we subsequently looked for more information about Cholla on the Web and the jury decided to accept his application by considering his prestige in the USA.” While Cholla was not eligible to win any cash prizes, “he obtained a special mention,” Del Favero said. Viviana Siviero, president of the four-member jury, said she at first was suspicious of Cholla's entry. “All of us knew that Cholla is a horse. When the organization informed me about that, I was at first doubtful and incredulous,” Siviero said, adding she researched Cholla to ensure his authenticity. “Sincerely, some of the jurors were perplexed or even angry. Some others were amused about it.” In selecting his work as an honorable mention, Siviero said, the jury “did not value ... his gesture nor his chromatic choice, since it has to be considered the result of casualty.” Renee Chambers, Cholla's owner and assistant, says his international acclaim proves his artistic talents. “Yes, it's a novelty that a horse can paint,” she said. “But it's not about novelty anymore. It's about his validation as an artist.” Cholla's painting career began by accident, Chambers said. He'd follow her around when she'd paint the corral each year, and one day her husband quipped, “You should get that horse to paint the fence.” Chambers instead tacked a piece of paper to a railing, bought some watercolors, mixed them up, and handed a brush to Cholla, who gripped it in his teeth and stroked the paper. “He's been painting ever since,” she said. If art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, then Cholla – named after a species of cacti found in the desert southwest – certainly has a following and a growing reputation. The 23-year-old bay has only been painting for four years, but original pieces have sold for $900 and as high as $2,200, said Chambers, who busies herself as Cholla's agent. He exhibited this summer during a Western show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, and will have a solo show at The Art Cafe in Davison, Michigan, in November. Is work created by an animal truly art? “We live in a world with constantly shifting boundaries and obviously expanding definitions,” said Kurt Kohl, curator at The Art Cafe. “The horse is creating art on the level of a very young child,” he said. “The action of the art is in the viewers response to it,” Kohl said. “And that's why we decided to hang it on our walls.” Siviero agreed. Chambers shrugs off naysayers who may think Cholla is a gimmick. “It's an innate ability he has,” she said. “He wants to paint. It's in him.”
