Tredici Cavalli [13 Horses] | Joe Girandola

21c Louisville presents Tredici Cavalli [13 Horses], an exhibition of artwork by Joe Girandola, celebrating the Triple Crown-winning horses in history. The artwork in the exhibition is created entirely out of duct tape.

On view now through 9.19.2025 in Galleries 4 & 5.

“I don’t know if it matters that he uses duct tape. I know that it matters to him. To me, it’s like a thick, rough paint, some odd, modern medium he found in a factory or behind a furnace.

It is the thickest paint imaginable, pliable and shiny in places, squat and dark in others. It is impossible to see Joe Girandola’s work and not see love and affectionate appreciation and grief. I first saw his series of horse paintings in 2004. The horses were huge and grand, as horses are.

They were also constrained and sometimes troubled, as horses also often are, but not everyone notices it and even fewer can convey it.

Every one of these “paintings” has an operatic quality. They are not shy. They are powerful. They are not coolly ironic. I love his work because from horses to drive-ins to restaurants, the likes of which you will never see again, there is always passion and curiosity and a certain fearlessness.

Which is why he uses duct tape, I think.”

Amy Bloom, Yale University/Wesleyan University

*Additional support for this exhibition provided by Art Academy of Cincinnati College of Art & Design, Shurtape Technologies, and Duck Brand.