Lava Fields of Iceland 1992

Roni Horn made this etching, "Lava Fields of Iceland," in 1993, and it really gets under my skin. The dense layering of text, seemingly endless, reminds me of the way thoughts accumulate in your head when you're trying to make sense of something. Looking closely, you see this relentless field of language. Each line is a mark, a gesture, a decision. It almost becomes a visual rhythm. I can imagine Horn, focused and persistent, working across the plate, pressing each word into being. The texture is subtle, but you can almost feel the bite of the acid on the metal, the pressure of the press. It's a very material thing, this thinking. It brings to mind the obsessive mark-making of someone like Agnes Martin, whose grids also explore repetition and subtle variation. What is written here? I have no idea, but the ambiguity makes me feel like I’m on a journey without a map, just the raw, elemental force of language and landscape.