ARMED N’ HAMMERED


GIFTS


The Horses
By Gareth McConnell
Throughout this collecting journey, select books have been gifted out to friends, colleagues, and artists for personal and developmental reasons alike. In August of 2025 I gifted photographer Garreth McConnell’s book The Horses to painter, collaborator, and friend Eldon Stephan.

McConnell’s psychedelic photographs of Icelandic horses reimagine these animals not as symbols of control or nobility, but as electric, cosmic beings flickering between dream and hyperreality. Bathed in neon hues, they pulse with strange sentience, echoing art historical and literary references—from Franz Marc’s spiritual color theory to Edwin Muir’s apocalyptic steeds and the myth of Nietzsche’s Turin horse—each adding layers of meaning around freedom, chaos, and the unknowable. Set against Iceland’s mystical, volcanic landscape and resonating with the energy of interstellar ley lines, McConnell’s horses become more than animals; they are surreal messengers, blurring the boundaries between nature, myth, and the digital sublime.

Stephan used The Horses as reference for his work PERIPHERAL VISION set to be featured in ARTGASM, shown at the Impact Institute Department on Northwestern University’s 625 N Michigan campus opening on June 23, 2026.

“After evidence based mental health and HIV prevention intervention studies by clinical psychologist Juan Pablo Zapata at Northwestern University, Peripheral Vision is a singular, split second decision between desire and isolation. When positioned between the periphery of self preservation and indulgence, which one will you choose?”
Eldon Stephan
PERIPHERAL VISION, 2026
Oil on Canvas
46”x 46”