Roni Horn

Private Collection, Europe

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Contemporary Art, 13 May 2009, Lot 331

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

ARTnews, December 1993, Vol. 92, no. 12, p. 128, illustration of another example

"Art is a Thing with Ideas," St. Louis Post Dispatch, February 23, 1995, illustration of another example

Exhibition Catalogue, Saint Louis Art Museum, Currents 61: Roni Horn,  1995, illustration of another example (on the cover)

The Sciences, November/December 1997, p. 27, illustration of another example

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although it fails to convey the metallic quality of the original. Condition: There are scattered rubs, scratches and light media accretions in places to all seven bars, notably the tallest one. Close inspection reveals a number of losses to the black areas and nicks to the metal.
"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."

Elegant in form and conception, WHEN DICKINSON SHUT HER EYES: No. 352 forms part of Roni Horn's series of works based on Emily Dickinson's poems. One of the most instantly recognisable bodies of work within the artist’s oeuvre, it is notably the only sculptural series specifically created for a domestic setting. The artist takes as her inspiration for her work the very authors that one would expect to populate the bookshelves of a well-read home; in the present work turning to the exquisitely stylised Emily Dickinson poem Perhaps I Asked too Large. Casting the lines of the poem - in which Dickinson employs berry-picking as a metaphor for wider aspiration -  in black plastic on slender aluminium rods, Horn transmutes the two-dimensional linguistic form in to that of a three-dimensional sculpture, both adding to and challenging the way in which the poem is to be approached and understood.

Through the creative utilisation of durable industrial materials, presented to the viewer within a three-dimensional architectural space, Horn visually disrupts and obfuscates the flow of the literary source, each line reduced to a statement rather than an element within a poetic whole. By relocating words in a physical space, the artist demands that the viewer encounters the linguistic source material in an entirely different way, taking into account not only the physical existence of the words themselves, but also the subtle alteration in meaning that seems to occur within the words themselves when transferred into corporeal form. The materiality of the words is challenged by the enigmatic quality of their meaning, yet this non-traditional artistic medium of word-play also allows for open-ended and democratic access to the work: It is through its linguistic door of recognition that Horn encourages the viewer to experience and interact with her work.

Horn has described the power of Emily Dickinson's poems as lying in their ability to capture the reader with their initial reading; her singularly modern stylistic placement of nouns, verbs and adjectives entrancing the reader through the remarkable grace of the word arrangements themselves. Similarly, by making language palpable, in her Dickinson-inspired works Horn appeals to the viewers on a plane equally split between the physical and the conceptual, prompting the viewer to navigate between the two realms and connect their singular experience to a greater whole. Through the placement and misplacement of words, both artist and writer become the choreographers of experience through the universal and transcendental power of language: "In [Dickinson's] letters she said she travelled when she closed her eyes, and that she went to sleep like it were a country. In her room alone, she said, was freedom. Here she wrote one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five poems. Dickinson shut her eyes and went places this world never was" (the artist cited in: Louise Neri, Lynne Cooke, Thierry de Duve, Roni Horn, London 2000, p. 96). Ultimately, through its masterful amalgamation of the abstract fundamentals of language with the wholly substantive elements of sculptural form, WHEN DICKINSON SHUT HER EYES: No. 352 superbly encapsulates Horn’s primary artistic concerns and ideals.