Roni Horn a.k.a Roni Horn at Tate Modern
Until 25 May 2009Roni Horn is an American artist who has been making work since the 1970s. Horn worked through the legacy of minimalism yet developed her own concerns with memory and identity, and this is her first major museum show in the UK. Using a variety of materials including rubber, glass and gold, Horn’s work has an immense beauty and sensuality to it.
The exhibition explores ideas that interest the artist about mutability and place. Her round, colourful cast-glass sculptures seem to have a liquid surface to them, and many of her photographs analyse the nature of water. Though based in New York, Horn is engaged with the landscape of Iceland, as a place which is constantly in a process of formation. In You are the Weather 1994–5, a set of 100 close-up photographs show a beautiful woman’s wet face with changing expressions emerging from hot pools around Iceland. She also photographs the landscape and animals, the geysers and lava fields. Horn is interested in the idea of pairing and doubling. Many of her intricately constructed drawings feature paired clusters of cut-up lines. She often uses two identical photographs in a single work, breaking up the images to give the viewer a sense of déjà vu, such as in Dead Owl 1998, a pair of photographs of a stuffed snowy owl.
I really liked the exhibition especially the room with water-related images, although sometimes the space was a bit too large for the artworks. I also regretted that no litterature in the exhibition expressed the fact that she's lesbian. Sexuality is explored through this exhibition but no mention of her attraction to women which could have been interesting if clearly expressed. What do you think ?
To learn more: www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/ronihorn
