Roni Horn

Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are a few scattered hairline scratches and faint unobtrusive rub marks to the front facing edge towards the top of the sculpture. There is a hairline scratch (approximately 20 cm. long) to the top of the left side edge. There are a few minute specks of wear to the extreme corner edges. There is a pinhead-sized dent to the left side edge above the letter "H", only visible upon close inspection, and two minute losses to the extreme left back edge, above the word "A".
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"In her assiduous study of Dickinson's work [...] Horn has found the closest precedent for her own sense of language as a material entity in itself, as an embodiment of a physical, as well as conceptual, relationship to the experience of things. Horn relates the way she uses language three-dimensionally to the way Emily Dickinson used nouns and verbs and adjectives in her singular modern style." (Louise Neri in Louise Neri, et al., Roni Horn, London, 2000, p. 51)

Crisis is a Hair
Toward which the forces creep
Past which forces retrograde
If it come in sleep

To suspend the Breath
Is the most we can
Ignorant is it Life or Death
Nicely balancing.

Let an instant push
Or an Atom press
Or a Circle hesitate
In Circumference

It—may jolt the Hand
That adjusts the Hair
That secures Eternity
From presenting—Here—

 

- Emily Dickinson, 1864