Having some work in a show in Paris was the main reason for my recent visit. I never go anywhere, however, without seeing some art and this time introduced a friend to the wonders of la Bourse de Commerce.
The building is so uplifting , even without the art inside. This time I was delighted to see work by Roni Horn, an artist I admire enormously. The show was a joint one with Felix Gonzalez-Torres but almost every piece that drew me was Horn’s so this is mainly what I’m showing.
Horn explores materiality. What does that actually mean?
I suppose the qualities of a particular material and what it can do of itself.
Take the glass sculptures for example. Molten glass is poured into a mould and sets over a period of months. the resultant piece is exquisitely beautiful: heavy and hard yet fragile with the softness of water.
It’s best not to say much as it’s the looking that is important here and the emotions evoked.
a.k.a., 2008-9 is a collection of 30 paired portraits. the artist as child and adult. Here she explores gender and identity from different stages of her own life.
