Designer finds muse in mythical horse

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Philip Markwart's "Horse Mural" was designed on 1,100 sheets of paper from a laser printer, and was built in 14 sections over a week at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. Courtesy Philip Markwart Horse mural installation Artist Philip Markwart will re-create and install an 18-by-5-foot section of his horse mural in recognition of the Year of the Horse in the Chinese lunar calendar. Noon to about 2 p.m. tomorrow Native Books and Beautiful Things, Ward Warehouse 596-8885

It all began three years ago when interior designer Beverly Major of Leo Daly Architects asked Markwart to consider creating a mural for Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. The base's logo is a flying horse (of the Pegasus variety), so the mural had to depict horses. The size? 135 feet long and 5 feet high.

Markwart thought long and hard about a story line for the mural. Somehow the idea of a flying horse didn't do it for him, so he created the myth of a horse in a fictitious Asian country. A legend grew that the horse could fly, so horses worldwide sought him to learn his secret.

The moral of the story is that the horse couldn't really fly: His wings were an illusion, and what the horses thought was flight actually was freedom. That's why in the mural the central horse's wings appear pale and transparent.

Markwart designed the mural entirely by computer. It was crafted from 1,100 sheets of paper printed on a laser printer. He then tore the edges of each sheet, crumpled them up and ironed them out to create an aged look.

For seven straight days in February 2001, Markwart, his wife, Mieko, and his niece, Makiko (who lives in Osaka, Japan) worked in an unfinished (though, mercifully, heated) building at Osan, installing the mural in 14 sections. The logistics were awesome. Each of the 1,100 sheets of paper was hoisted up to Markwart, who stood on scaffolding. He sprayed, squeegeed and brushed each paper panel into position with varnish.

Tomorrow, Markwart will re-create a duplicate of the mural's central panel at Ward Warehouse.

Riding high on the inspiration of the mural, Markwart applied the image of his mythical horse to a line of men's, women's and keikis' T-shirts, greeting cards, dish towels and round uchwa fans. The line is available at Native Books & Beautiful Things in Ward Warehouse.