Hauser & Wirth is to present the US debut of four new bodies of work by acclaimed American artist Roni Horn. The exhibition features the photographic opus ‘The Selected Gifts (1974 – 2015)’, a collection of 67 photographs documenting the history of gifts the artist received over a period of 41 years. Also on view are two new bodies of works on paper, The Dog’s Chorus (2016) – shown here for the first time – and Th Rose Prblm (2015), as well as the new glass sculptures ‘Water Double, v. 1’ and ‘Water Double, v. 3’ (both 2013 – 2015). Although materially divergent, these works all derive from longstanding questions and themes that have propelled Horn’s practice and her ongoing poetic study of the protean nature of identity, meaning, and perception.
Water Double, v. 1, 2013—2015 Solid cast glass with as-cast surfaces with oculus
Height: 132.1 cm / 52 in Diameter: 134 – 142 cm / 53 – 56 in (tapered) each, two parts
Photo: Ron Amstutz
A fossilized dinosaur egg, leather gloves, two copies of Djuna Barnes’ ‘The Book of Repulsive Women’, and a handmade olive tree are but a few of the objects that appear in ‘The Selected Gifts (1974 – 2015)’ – the majority of which are reproduced at actual size. Photographed with a deceptively affectless approach that belies sentimental value, Horn’s collected treasures oat against pristine white backdrops in the artist’s signature serial style. Together, the sundry gifts tell a story of the self as mediated through both objects and others – what the artist calls ‘a vicarious self-portrait.’
Horn explains,
‘It is a reflection through the warped optic of others that shows a level of accuracy beyond that of any mirror. A portrait I could not have imagined without the unwitting aid of friends, acquaintances, and knowing strangers.’
The Selected Gifts, (1974 – 2015) (detail), 2015—2016 Ink jet prints on Hahnemuehle paper, 67 parts 13 x 13 in (18 images); 13 x 14 in (3 images); 13 x 16 in (31 images); 13 x 18 in (9 images); 13 x 19 in (6 images) © Roni Horn Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
Unfolding over adjacent gallery spaces, two new major series of drawings similarly weigh humor with larger questions about the fluidity of meaning and identity. The Dog’s Chorus and Th Rose Prblm expand upon the intricate, labor-intensive approach to drawing that Horn has developed since the early 1980s.
Th Rose Prblm (detail), 2015—2016 Pen and ink, watercolour, gum arabic, 48 parts Various sizes, ca. 66 x 48.3 cm / 26 x 19 in each Photo: Tom Powel Imaging
The exhibition at Hauser & Wirth concludes with two of the largest glass sculptures Horn has ever produced: ‘Water Double, v. 1’ and ‘Water Double, v. 3’. While these hulking cylinders appear to be adamantly solid forms, they are actually in imperceptible motion: Glass is neither liquid nor solid, but an amorphous liquid solid that exists between those two states of matter, with atoms moving too slowly for its condition of constant change to be visible.
Water Double, v. 3, 2013—2015 Solid cast glass with as-cast surfaces with oculus 132.1 x 142.2 cm / 52 x 56 in Height: 132.1 cm / 52 in Diameter: 134 – 142 cm / 53 – 56 in (tapered) each, two parts Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
Roni Horn Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street 27 April – 29 July 2017 Opening reception: Thursday 27 April, 6 – 8 pm www.hauserwirth.com
About the Artist
Roni Horn was born in 1955 and lives and works in New York NY. Recent solo exhibitions include ‘Roni Horn’, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland (2016); ‘Roni Horn’, de Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands (2016); ‘Roni Horn. Butter y to Oblivion’, Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles, France (2015); ‘Roni Horn. Butter y Doubt’, Hauser & Wirth London (2015); ‘Roni Horn. “Everything was sleeping as if the universe were a mistake”’, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain (2014); Caixa Forum, Madrid, Spain (2014); Hauser & Wirth New York, 18th Street (2013); ‘Photographien / Photographic Works’, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany (2011); and ‘Well and Truly’, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2010). In November 2009, Horn’s comprehensive survey exhibition ‘Roni Horn aka Roni Horn’ opened at Tate Modern and traveled to Collection Lambert in Avignon, France (2009); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (2009); and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA (2010).
Horn’s works are featured in numerous major international institutions and collections including the Guggenheim Museum, New York NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York NY; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL; Tate Modern, London, England; Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland; and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
In January 2013, Horn was awarded the Joan Miró Prize and JRP Ringier also published the rst major publication to focus solely on Horn’s extensive drawing practice. In March 2017 the Glenstone Museum, Potomac MA opened a major survey exhibition of the work of Roni Horn, selected by the artist herself. The exhibition remains on view until January 2018.
Roni Horn at Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street, will be on view through 28 July 2017.
