EXISTENCE AND FREEDOM IN HORSE METAPHOR: A STUDY OF CREATIVE PROCESS IN PAINTING ART

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Abstract

Freedom is understood as a fundamental aspect of human existence because every individual is confronted with the capacity to choose, determine attitudes, and take responsibility for the meaning of life they construct, as emphasized in existentialist thought, particularly that of Jean-Paul Sartre. Within the practice of contemporary visual art, this understanding is often manifested through personal experience, existential reflection, and visual symbolism that become essential elements in the creative process. This study aims to produce a painting that visualizes freedom and self-existence through the metaphor of the horse within an expressive realist approach. The method employed is a qualitative creation-based approach referring to Graham Wallas’s stages of the creative process: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. The results indicate that the visualization of the horse is able to represent relational dynamics, awareness of limitation, and the process of accepting wounds as part of the formation of self-meaning. These findings affirm that painting can function as a reflective medium for understanding freedom as an ongoing existential process within human experience.