Channa Horwitz
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Work from her oeuvre.
“What Would Happen If I” is the third exhibition presented at Aanant & Zoo Gallery, Berlin, by American conceptual artist, Channa Horwitz (born in 1932, lives in Los Angeles). In 2007, she had an exhibition under the title “Searching/Structures 1965–2007” based on a search that she engaged with in her work, in which she uses logically sequenced numbers, musical notations, and structural forms. Last year, the exhibition “Hello is not like I would say goodbye” presented another body of work – sculptures and conceptual drawings for performances and musical compositions. In the present exhibition, “What Would Happen If I,” Aanant & Zoo is pleased to present for the first time murals by the artist, which she has developed specifically for two of the gallery’s showrooms.
She has found that “through structure comes an apparent chance. But it is only apparent, and at its essence, structure.” Interestingly, juxtaposed with her non-arbitrary results, the title of the show, “What Would Happen If I” is an open-ended, playful phrase Horwitz uses prior to the investigations, which have led to the various manifestations of her work. In her approach, she often explores subtle variations and deep structures. In the case of this show, there is an exploration of medium, size, and dimension; from the paper and the canvas to the wall, and from two-dimensional surfaces to three-dimensional structures.
Looking back on forty years of creation, recognizable in another substantial body of work called “Sonakinatography,” Horwitz’s explorations have led her to a conceptual artistic practice before the term was even acknowledged. “Sonakinatography” consists of drawings, performances and musical compositions. Embodied sound, motion, notation within the rigid and strict orders such as geometry, grid structure, a numerical order from 1 to 8, in 2011 Horwitz keeps extending her system infinitely to other orders extracted though a linear logic resulting in ever changing variations. Like a beat that never stops, the mind game by the artist never ceases. Together with a strong bodily engagement, her work continues to produce highly aesthetic complexities in the most minimalistic of forms, which move us all into any-space-whatever.” – Aanant & Zoo