I have been searching for inspiration from artists whose work is informed by the natural world. This search has lead me first to artists who directly observe natural such as Ruskin and Turner and modern artists such as Goldsworthy. I am now however wanting to explore how contemporary artists work in a way which is informed by nature but does not aim to recreate it or present it in a conventional manner.
Roni Horn is inspired by the icelandic landscape where most of her work is produced. In a interview with the guardian in 2009 its stated that 'She is greatly concerned with difference and sameness. Water changes state, weather changes everything. Is this the same as that? She writes: "the androgyny of my name had a deep influence on me ... integrating difference is the basis of identity, not the exclusion of it. You are this and this and that."'. This is something which continually has been reoccuring in my ideas, where the boundaries between nature and man lie or I as other artists such as Roni Horn and Ilana Halperin believe, there are no boundaries. We are the same.
I find these sculpture works on Roni Horn's intriguing as she simply displays water, her subject, in various ways. I feel this is approriate for her work as it allows the viewer to consider the water as art and take notice of it out of a everyday context. I also find the darkness in of the water in this piece interesting as it appears sinister and looking into the water becomes like looking into a void, like looking down into deep water like the ocean. The water which our bodies are largely made up of and is necessary to our survial can become threatening and dangerous.
"To go to that state of mind, or that set of possibilities. To go where these mineral materials are, and where the weather is. With the weather, we arrive at an emotionality hitherto hinted at. Talking of Iceland, Horn says "the weather, with its amoral, wanton violence, is murderous if you don't pay attention to it, murderous if you don't respect the magnitude of it".
Aside from Horn's minimalist sculptural works she also uses text and drawing. I found the above piece interesting as she uses language and text to address what she wishes to convey about the landscape. This piece says 'To see a landscape as it is when I am not there.'. I feel this is extremely affective to create a intervention into the landscape and challenge preconceptions of it. By choosing a flat metallic block as the basis for her words is also challenging to anything which we would generally associate with the natural landscape.
I have also looked at her drawing works for inspiration on how other artists use 2D works to inform their sculptural work as I have been working with line drawing and salt drawings aside from my sculptural work. I think Horn's drawings offer a interesting compliment to her sculpture. In her drawings she leave visible notes and plans to show the process in her drawings which reflect the movement and process which reflect the movement and cycles of water which interest her.
The below image is a photo of a sketchbook test I did using watercolour paints to track patterns left by water movement which from looking at Horn's work now seem more interesting to me.
