Horse Mania – Digital Horse, originally uploaded by Alex Zhu | ??.

“Horse Mania” is the name of a new art project in Lexington, Kentucky to promote the city’s bond with horses while celebrating its artists and the horse as an art form. The horses certainly dress up the city nicely for the approaching 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Oh yes, and the horses will raise some money for charity at the end of it all!

You will find 80 horses spread out over the city, and some foals created by school groups are romping around as well. The striking “Digital Horse” you see on this page can be found on the intersection of Main and Mill streets in downtown Lexington. It was sponsored by QX.net, a Kentucky-based internet service provider (ISP) with offices right around the corner from this horse. The subject theme certainly makes sense for that company! If you look closely, you’ll see the horse is tatooed with binary code!

What’s even more special is the way that photographer Alex Zhu caught the light on the horse, so that the edge is illuminated. If you click on the link under the photo, you will find your way to Alex’s portfolio, which is quite impressive.

The Digital Horse was designed and carefully crafted by University of Kentucky Masters of Art Education alumnus Duane Keaton. Keaton is a full-time middle school art teacher at Southern Middle School in Lexington.

What makes this story sweeter? Keaton helped his students create an entry…it’s a foal aptly named Storm Chaser.

 The foal is leading Horse Mania’s unanimous and successful attempt to take Lexington “by storm”.

Horse Mania is a project of LexArts, a public arts project. The horses will be auctioned off at Keeneland in December to benefit LexArts and other charities specified by the sponsoring corporations.