Breeder’s Envy (Makrospondylitic
Thoroughbred Skeleton Mount), 2013
Horse bones, wood base, steel supports, and silicone “cartilage” material

The Thoroughbred is the product of centuries of intensive and deliberative breeding with one primary aim: horse racing. By extending the skeleton of an actual horse to the absurd length of 20 feet, Strecker—who lives in the famed horseracing state of Kentucky—fashioned what she calls “the stretch limousine of Thoroughbreds.” The work wryly reflects on the extreme alterations humans make to other species for their own questionable ends. Placed atop a low plinth, Breeder’s Envy raises longstanding associations of the skeletal specimen as an instrument of scientific inquiry on the one hand and a trophy on the other.

Courtesy of the artist.