“Tired Horses”: it might just sound like a bunch of cowboys rather than a clever tune about the insatiable hunger of consumerism and the artist’s right to a creative refuge—a temporary retreat from all the expectations that overwhelm them. When Bob Dylan released the lyrics to “All the Tired Horses” on a double record in 1970, he was expressing precisely this weariness and latent exhaustion as an artist: how was he supposed to step on the gas while riding these tired animals? By which Dylan, of course, didn’t mean horses, but rather a proven formula for success. Clearing one’s head, staying open to new ideas, and pushing forward: the latest exhibition at Berlin’s Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery features work by Robert McNally and Charlie Roberts exploring how this can be achieved. The concept behind the dual exhibition titled “Tired Horses” refers to the nearly eponymous short film by Sebastian Mayr from 2017 in which the young director reflects on a society that simultaneously squanders its intimacy through the media while seeking to preserve it.
It is within this tension that the two artists—McNally from Great Britain and Roberts from the United States—present their works (prices: 7,000 to 32,000 Euros). The former lived in Berlin for a time before moving to Gateshead in northeastern England. It is primarily during periods of isolation that he creates these elaborate and fantastical paintings, which McNally constructs from memory. In Berlin, McNally also experimented with three-colored toothpaste from a tube, which he used in place of oil paints. The images could not be preserved, only photographed. Now they serve as templates for new works in which the toothpaste—this time painted—meets wood or marble and traces classical portraiture onto the surface. In other works, McNally creates tulips in a vase. One piece bears the title “Nightshift” (2026), alluding to the state in which creativity is possible: in the isolation of the night, where the tulip and its shadow separate to lead their own lives.
Charlie Roberts is just as familiar with this strange state of limbo, albeit in a different way. In his narrative motifs heads duplicate themselves, arms and legs stretch endlessly, and cars drive through walls. Roberts, born in 1983, detaches his figures from reality while depicting everyday situations, like in the painting “Ancient Evening” (2026). It shows the artist from behind in his studio. In a small space, two clocks hang next to self-portraits—one youthful, the other with a receding hairline. The painter himself looks like a cyborg with a tiny silver head. His reflection in the mirror tells of another decade in the life of the same figure as the one he is currently painting. And yet all these personalities merge into one, come together, and form a work composed of many perspectives that converge in the creative moment—leaving the tired horse behind to run on its own.
Translated into English by Harley Aussoleil
