Happy to announce my participation in Miart 2024 with MLZ ART DEP presenting a new body of work from “The Windows” series. “Self-Portrait as Josephine” and other new works in booth 55, main sector, April 12-14.
For Anaïs Horn's latest work complex, "The Windows," premiering at Miart 2024, she once again delves into a recurring motif: the window. Symbolizing the liminal space between the private and public domains, windows become conduits of imagination, transparent thresholds bridging worlds.
Drawing from drone footage, she captures glimpses on herself through the windows of her former New York 20th-floor apartment. These stills transferred onto transparent acrylic glass and juxtaposed with hand-painted silk curtains on aluminium curtain rods and aluminum (window) frames. Adorned with gemstone balls and tassels, reminiscent of traditional protective charms, they serve as guardians against external malevolence.
Within the exhibition space, she constructs an immersive environment, integrating her own furniture designs, including a printed antique carpet, painted poufs, and lamps (all 2024). These pieces, accompanied by drawings from her "The Windows" series (2022), transform the booth into a domestic sanctuary. Through the interplay of windows, she distorts perspectives, evoking notions of voyeurism and surveillance.
The juxtaposition of unconventional viewpoints and delicate textiles conveys a sense of solitude and vulnerability, echoing the urban melancholy of Edward Hopper's cityscapes. Yet, Horn’s work is dedicated to Josephine Hopper, an overlooked artist and wife of Edward. "Self Portrait as Josephine" (2022–2024) draws on elements from famous portraits of Josephine, aiming to evoke uncanny moments of déjà vu through their distortion.
Self Portrait as Josephine IV, 2022–2024, video still, UV printed on acrylic glass, painted silk curtains, artist’s aluminium frame and curtain rod, Green Moonstone, 192 x 186 cm (detail).
