Valerii Stratiuk - The Reins

The painting will be sent in a roll. A stretcher for the painting will also be sent. The canvas can be stretched on a stretcher at a ballet studio near you. The title "The Reins" provides a key to the painting's deeper symbolic meaning. Reins are not merely a tool of control over the horse, but rather a sign of connection, interdependence, and the delicate boundary between freedom and restraint.
The nude youth embodies a primordial, unstructured human essence — pure, vulnerable, and not yet fully formed. His gesture toward the horse suggests an act of contact: not an attempt to dominate, but to understand and to feel.
The horse, a traditional symbol of strength, instinct, and inner energy, does not appear subdued. On the contrary, it retains its dignity and autonomy. Here, the reins become a metaphor not for rigid control, but for a subtle and sensitive link between a human being and their own nature. The seascape in the background reinforces this symbolism: water represents the subconscious, the depths of the psyche with which the figure seeks connection. The dark, almost nocturnal atmosphere evokes a moment of inner transition — a state where control and freedom coexist in fragile balance.
Thus, "The Reins" can be interpreted as a reflection on the nature of self-mastery: whether it is an act of domination, or rather an art of listening, sensing, and coexisting with one's inner force.