German | MTSU Foundations

Rebecca Horn is a German artist, born in 1944; she is well-known for the various types of media: performance art, installation art, film, body sculptures, and modifications in her artworks. It was around 1968, the college she attended Hamburg academy to study art. However, she suffered in some cases of lung poisoning from her unprotected work that handled with glass fiber; For the most part, she was hospitalized and had to change mediums from polyester and fiberglass to softer material. Around 1971, Horn worked as a performance artist, and she began producing body sculptures, body extensions, or prosthetics; she developed the first kinetic sculptures, and each material Horn use in her sculpture gives mystical spiritual imagery. She also worked on full-length films that featured some of her sculptures that talks about her obsession with imperfect bodies and balance between figures and objects.

*Landscape of the Golem II,* 2010
acrylic on paper paper: 15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches (40 x 30 cm)
framed: 24 3/8 x 19 5/8 inches (62 x 50 cm) RH-1069

In the first performance with the body-extensions, she wanted to explore the equilibrium between the human body and space; When she changed to the kinetic sculptures, they were her artistic expressions, it wasn’t just sculptured on its own, but rather the movement, rhythm, and sound. It represented in a historical aspect rather than it’s architectural or spatial. It represented in a historical aspect rather than it’s architectural or spatial. It reflects on the aftermath of WWII, it was difficult for Horn and her family to live around because of Nazi’s destruction, the Germans were hated, so she learned to speak French and English to avoid suspicions. Eventually, Romanian governess introduced drawing to Horn, drawing felt like it was a form of communication. From that experience from being isolated, judged, and hospitalized, there some hints in her artworks that express macabre or exaggerated imagery that is expressing its own emotion, like its own being. Some of her famous works below where Horn is modeling with her sculptures:

“Finger Gloves, 1972”. Tate Collection (2002)

Rebecca Horns is currently living and works in Paris, France and Berlin, Germany. As a tribute for Rebecca’s artworks, there’s an exhibition that features her famous artworks that dwell more in Rebecca’s Horn theme about the human body metamorphizes or evolve, called the “Theatre of Metamorphoses” located in The Centre Pompidou-Metz museum in Lorraine, France.

Left: Rebecca Horn, Concert for Anarchy, 1990, Piano. – Right: Rebecca Horn, Die preussische Braut, 1988

**Rebecca Horn, The Peacock Machine, 1981, Installation, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, © 2019: Rebecca Horn/ProLitteris, Zürich**

Ever since the artist presentation was mentioned at the beginning of the semester, I decided to take a sneak peek and see what kind of artists is there to see. Immediately, when I saw Rebecca Horn’s name, and I decided to research more about her, that was when I was so fascinated by how she expresses her artworks, it brings out a lot of character and charm. Especially in her paintings and sketches, it reminded me of how I draw or sketch some of my works.

Work Cited:
http://www.dreamideamachine.com/en/?p=48191
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/horn-rebecca/
http://www.artnet.com/artists/rebecca-horn/

Katharina Grosse is a German artist born in 1961 who combines a wide array of bright colors with architecture, sculpture, and paintings to create massive visual installations. Before her career took flight, she studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. There, she pursued a degree in painting. She now teaches at the university, but continues to explore and display her artistic ability.

Though considered a painter and sculptor, traditional painting is not what she is known for. Her techniques primarily consist of spray paint to create a specific movement among her pieces. The ideas that may come to mind when viewing Grosse’s works may resemble psychedelics as the color schemes and motions present are extremely captivating. Her installations have lead to major accomplishments and awards, such as the Oskar Schlemmer Prize, Fred-Thieler-Preis, Stipendiaten der Stiftung Kunstfonds, and the Villa-Romana-Stipendium, Florence. Her works have been displayed in a multiple museums, such as the De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland.

Grosse often calls psychology into question as her works challenges the reality of things as her pieces are much larger than what you would normally see. Viewers are immersed in a world of art that physically surrounds them rather than sits on a wall to be stared at. Her work can be described as an environment as so much space can be taken up, but these environments explore hard-to-imagine dimensions and illusions, greying the line between imagination and reality as viewers can almost be swallowed by the works. Grosse is a very unique artist that utilizes a space in a very engaging and intense way using a multitude of colors and forms that sometimes include furniture and often contrast each other.