If you were to ask me what I do, I would say I draw–this is the primary activity–and that all my work has this in common regardless of idiom or material.
– Roni Horn
Kukje Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by Roni Horn from November 16 to December 31, 2023. Installed in K3, the artist’s fifth show at the gallery focuses exclusively on her recent series of drawings titled Frick and Fracks, produced between 2018 and 2023.
Drawing is central to Roni Horn’s practice, and the only medium the artist has used consistently throughout her career. In her Frick and Fracks series, Horn continues her exploration of pairing and doubling, which can be seen across her work in mediums ranging from photography, sculpture, and to drawing.
Installed in the gallery are 15 works from Frick and Fracks, each of which is composed of eight gouache and/or watercolor drawings on paper. Here, the artist is drawing and drawing again, repeating similar forms throughout any composition. Although language is absent from the series, the title ‘Frick and Fracks’ nods to Horn’s longstanding use of idioms and slang in her work. Frick and Frack were a comedic Swiss ice-skating duo (Werner Groebli and Hans Mauch, respectively), who rose to popularity in the late 1930s after moving to the US and joining the touring ice show, ‘Ice Follies.’ Eventually, the term “Frick and Frack” became an English slang for two people who are so closely linked that they are nearly indistinguishable.
About the Artist
Roni Horn (b. 1955) lives and works in New York, having studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA) and Yale University (MFA). Among Horn’s many major museum exhibitions, recent solo exhibitions include Centro Botín, Santander, Spain (2023); Winsing Art Place, Taipei, Taiwan (2023); Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan (2021); Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland (2020, 2016); The Drawing Institute at The Menil Collection, Houston, USA (2019); Glenstone Museum, Potomac, USA (2017); Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France (2015); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain (2014); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany (2011); the Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2004); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2003); and Dia Art Foundation, New York, USA (2001).
Roni Horn is currently the subject of a major exhibition at the He Art Museum in Foshan, China, her largest solo exhibition in Asia to date. Her works are included in the collections of major institutions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Kunstmuseum Basel; Pinault Collection, Paris; and Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul.