Rebecca+Horn+Paper

Elana Solomon

The artist Rebecca Horn is known for her sculptures, drawings, and photographs. She is from German. Each artwork that she presents has to do with the previous one. Some have similar thoughts as the previous, and some have new unimagined thoughts and ideas. The intense thought and work that goes into each piece is admirable and inspiring. I focused on her later pieces of artwork that involved her body in them. I find it very interesting that Horn is able to create a sculpture while incorporating her body into it. This theme depicts a sense of breaking the boundaries of space and time. Her sculpture named “Finger Gloves,” is one of her more known pieces. The piece is photographed with horn wearing the gloves and they are reaching as far from her as they can to the ground. They are very light and easy to wear. Horn captions the sculpture explaining that she is trying to use the extended gloves to alter her relationship with her surroundings – the distant objects become within her reach when the gloves are on. The sculpture portrays the idea “that touching makes possible an intimacy between our own body and those of the others.” (Horn) I really enjoy the message that this piece is trying to get across. The piece breaks down the boundaries of space, and it accentuates the existence of it. Horn also manages to put her body into her sculpture and make it something more than it is. She communicates with her artwork using her body. Like this sculpture, Horn uses her own body in the one called “Arm Extensions.” The sculpture is of her body covered up in a red tape-like material, which is wrapped continuously from her elbows all the way down to the ground. This idea of extending her arms through space is reoccurring in several of her artworks. Another piece that Horn is famous for is her “Pencil Mask.” Horn creates a sculpture that is meant to be strapped on your face with pencils sticking out of it. Body art is something that is common in Horn’s artwork. Again, similar to the “Finger Glove,” this sculpture utilizes the distance in space between our own body and our surroundings allowing that space to create a piece of artwork. Horn displays a very complex and intense side in her sculpture named “Knuggle Dome for James Joyce.” It is made of four pairs of kitchen knives that each contains a letter of the words “love” and “hate” across the blades. When the knives move back and forth, the letters jumble. This sculpture implies the “moral equivalence between the two emotions, and therefore nihilism.” (Liddell, 2009) This piece gives off a dangerous vibe that makes you think deeper about what she is trying to say. Many of the critiques of Horn’s work talks about the feministic side of her pieces. Horn uses her sculptures to show the empowerment of her and other women. Because she incorporates her body into the sculpture, it makes more sense that she is trying to portray that a woman’s body is important.