"Deer fight"

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is the largest deer in Europe. Each autumn, the rut triggers confrontations between males for access to the hinds. These frontal battles, in which the antlers clash and interlock, can last several minutes and engage the full power of the body — the hooves scraping the ground, the muscles of the shoulders and neck absorbing the blows.

The horizontal format was chosen to contain the two bodies facing each other. The anchor point of the composition — the interlocked antlers at the centre — is treated with a more marked graphic precision than the rest: that is where everything is at stake, where the strength of each animal is tested. The bodies, by contrast, are rendered in warm washes that convey the fury of movement without freezing it.