ON MY TAPESTRY WORK

„Date Line is the last of a series of six tapestries on which I have been working from 1983 to 1990. The topic of an imaginary world tour carrying me easily to Greece as well as to the Easter Island, to Sicily‘s Mafia as well as to the Pacific Ocean‘s date line is based on a number of collages I made in the Seventies.

In my imagination I crossed this ‚line at which the calendar day is reckoned to begin and end, so that at places east and west of it the date differs by one day‘ (THE SHORTER OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY). By crossing this date line I can reverse the course of time and may be able to get from Monday to Sunday. The ostensible reverse course of time stimulates my fantasy and recalls my recollection: time is at my disposal - I am ruling the past and the future, and I can move in both directions as I like to.“   (P. H. 1991)

„As we have discussed the main aspects of collage, one might ask why Peter Horn does not content himself with a pasted collage image - after all, he would be in excellent company! The answer is at least twofold: If one compares the collage design of 1971 to the woven work, one discovers that constant changes have been made during weaving.. This proves that, for Peter Horn, tapestry is the true means of artistic expression, a living creative process at every moment, rather than a mechanical technique which merely copies.

Peter Horn‘s theme in this and other works is that of time and simultaneousness. He has found an exceptionally convincing approach to tackling the philosophical dimension of this great subject, and a convincing way of executing it with sensual and logical coherence. The loom‘s warp is the equivalent of bare, measurable rhythm, the weft that of animated, rhythmic movement. There are no add-ons. The correlation of warp and weft within the woven image perfectly represents the invisible links and networks between all forms.

For Peter Horn, tapestry weaving is not a reproductive process. During weaving he makes creative decisions and changes to the colours and shapes of the design. The creative work reconciles the opposition between the rigid and calculable, and the moving and unfathomable; and is experienced as time spent in fulfilment. It can neutralize the problem posed by the ‚date line‘ within the work, can express it convincingly and with sensual nourishment. What it cannot do is to rid the world of the problem. The artist is aware of that. With self-irony, he avoids pathos and a patronizing stance, puts words to the situation.“   (Manfred Korte 2004)

„In the Seventies I started my imaginary journeys through the infinite open space of the Universe, travelling more and more widely as time went on. Recently I have been to the planets Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and to the Main Belt. At this moment I am already on the long way to the Orion Nebula.

I miraculously survived a spectacular crash onto Earth‘s moon; and saw some of Jupiter‘s numerous moons from close by. I enjoyed the romantic atmosphere of a lunar afternoon, was delighted by the soft-coloured veils of Jupiter‘s almost invisible ring and moved by the poetic solitude of the cratered surface of the planet Mercury.

There is still so much more to discover beyond what is visible of our world that I just do not know where to start. Yet for me the most exciting part of these phantastic journeys is the moment when I begin to turn my discoveries into woven images. It is because of my elementary and existential love of weaving, and because of the knowledge that it is the only medium to express my ideas this precisely that I can draw lasting motivation for this pursuit.“   (P. H. 2005)

„Some of Peter Horn‘s tapestries are woven in the 20 x 20 cm format, suggesting that he intended to explore the visual impact initially on the small scale: „Uranus“ (1996), „Mercurius 1“ (1996), and „Ring of Jupiter 1“ (1997). In 1998 he blows up „Mercurius“ almost tenfold (198 x 198 cm) as no. 2, with „Ring of Jupiter 2“ following in 2000 in almost the same dimensions (200 x 197 cm). In both large-scale versions, Horn makes significant alterations of image and colour.

What appears dense in the small format turns threatening after massive scaling up. In the lower part of „Mercurius 2“ we can make out a grey mass of people, while a huge planet with clearly visible craters is poised above, possibly speeding towards the Earth. The image is reminiscent of the movie „Armageddon“, whose heroes destroy a star headed for collision with the Earth.

According to the Revelation of St. John the Divine, the name refers to the mythical place in which the ‚kings of the earth and the whole world‘ are assembled by the evil spirits to fight a monumental war. In the English language the term in used in reference to huge disasters.“   (Gerd Mettjes 2004)

A NEW TOPIC

After twenty years of travelling through the boundless Universe I have come back to Earth again in 2009. A new topic took hold of me, marked by imponderability and mystification of the object I intend to weave. The subject of my tapestry weaving is not any more moving in extraterrestrial regions but has become man on Earth and his sentiments.

While being occupied with 19th century art theory I very easily found myself close to a romantic tradition. Imponderability as well as mystification have been essential procedures of art, literature and music, as well as mankind and their feelings throughout this century. I feel very close to this epoch when I am searching for a design for my next tapestry.

I chose a new and different way of finding the design for my tapestries. I now take the images from photographs I produce myself in great numbers. The way I produce them is the following: I visit several everyday or special events as concerts, exhibitions, supermarkets, or simply go in the streets of my home town or in London or Venice, always with a small digital camera in my right hand. Those are places where I cannot expect much light, and this fact supports my photographic intentions and the procedure of taking pictures.

As I need longer exposure time and as I suffer from a slight tremor that lets my hand shake I take photographs which are more or less out of focus. And as I do not look through the viewfinder while taking my photos the results are accidental. What satisfies me most of all is that all of them are unique, and many of them contain a high level of ambiguity, infiniteness, and when they are good they are mysterious. The greatest adventure for me is to transpose these designs into a tapestry. This is a technical as well as an artistic challenge.

The number of tapestries I produced since the beginning of my new artistic programme give reasons for the assumption that I might be on the way from a representational to a fully abstract style. The future will show.   (P. H. 2022)