PHOTO: JASON FOUMBERG
 

It was a living monument to Ralph Lauren: a nude man posing with a polo mallet on horseback. This was the scene in Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon, in a spectacle orchestrated by the artist Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford whose ambitious solo exhibition Hall of Khan opened at the Hyde Park Art Center on Sunday. The tableau vivant was held for 30 minutes while the naked man (played by artist Elijah Burgher) posed bareback on the Palomino.

Although the nude model was only present for the opening, the exhibition will host a horse once a month (through July 28) in a specially made gallery stable. The show also features a dozen or so other artworks with equestrian themes such as new ceremonial saddles made of cast red foam. There's also a gigantic pink polystyrene structure, shaped like a building, suspended and tilted in the 10,000 square-foot gallery. It's an incredible piece to behold, even rivaling the naked horseman.