Event overview
Eva Rothschild’s work is informed by an ongoing interest in the meeting points between spirituality, power, visual perception and the nature of materiality. She works across a range of media including steel, leather, resin, plastic and fabric and her work is often characterised by the use of unstable geometric forms. Her materials often appear to transcend their physical limitations, hovering between representation, symbolism and actual form. By deliberately destabilising physical and visual characteristics in her work, Rothschild not only questions the aesthetics of art, in particular minimalism, but also those of belief in social liberation and spiritual movements (South London Gallery). A new recent body of work, Alternative to Power, was characterised by the use of co-dependent forms, each piece is made up of multiple elements relying on one another for support, her columns, frames, arches and benches forming a fragile, temporary union of physical components, for the duration of the exhibition. (New Art Gallery, Walsall)
For a 2009 Tate Duveens commission, she made a continuous work that stretched across the space, sinuously drawing attention to detail, roof and floor of the building. Rothschild's sculptures often appear to defy gravity: upturned tree-like forms or tall and complex works perched on fragile, spindly legs. "It is important to me that they look precarious, I want to create and show the 'physical tension' behind what they are doing." Comforting the viewer is clearly not a priority: "The ideal way to look at art is to be permanently confused."
In her film, Boys and Sculpture, 2012, she wanted to explore the relationship of young males to works of art. Giving licence to a group of schoolboys to enter and "interact" with a specially commissioned room of her sculptures, she carefully limited the amount of instructions given and waited to see what would happen. Within 25 minutes, the sculptures were destroyed and redeployed as swords and costumes to act out various stories. The results were more violent then she was expecting. "It was a film I had wanted to make and now it is made. It's funny, liberating and joyful – and quite violent; everything I wanted it to be." (The Independent)
Her recent practice has included a number of large scale public commissions including new works at the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, 2017, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, 2017 Gardemoen Airport, Oslo, 2016. Solo exhibitions include ‘Alternative to Power’ at New Art Gallery Walsall, 2016, Empire, 2011, a Public Art Fund Commission in Central Park, New York and Cold Corners made in 2009 for Tate Britain’s Duveen gallery commission. Group exhibitions have included You Imagine What You Desire, Sydney Biennial, Sydney, Australia, 2014. Her work is included in public and private collections including Tate Britain, MoMA, New York and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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15 Mar 2017 | 5:30pm - 7:00pm |
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