Contingent, courtesy of Eva Hesse, 1969
What makes a work unfinished? And, if a work is ‘unfinished’, what makes a work ‘finished’ and how should an incomplete work be viewed? Elliott Smith’s last album, ‘From a Basement on a Hill’ was famously not finished because Smith died early, at 34. Other singers like Johnny Cash made sure that they controlled their legacy down to the very last minute. When Cash realised he was dying he recorded the vocals for sixty more songs, some of which were recorded after his death. One of these, ‘Hurt’, is widely considered as his epitaph and will bring a tear to the most hardened soul.
Eva Hesse, courtesy of Eva Hesse estate
A work can also be ‘unfinished’ because it was never intended to be ‘finished’ in the first place. This is the category I feel that Eva Hesse’s ‘Studioworks’ fall into. Last weekend I went along to the much acclaimed exhibition of at the Camden Arts Centre. These works were meant to be experimental, test-pieces not intended as ‘gallery’ works. They were essentially ‘unfinished’.
Installation Views, Photo courtesy of Andy Keate, Courtesy Camden Arts Centre
Eva Hesse creates frail, delicate works. They look ready to melt, break or drop into oblivion. Their materials: latex, fibreglass, plastics, are famously difficult to preserve, explaining the dimly lit rooms and careful display. At the Arts Centre they are encased under museum plastic boxes. Empty cavernous shells of aged, peeling objects sit side by side, labelled like the mummified remnants of a human body. It is like we’ve been invited into some medical museum, the viscerous skin-like quality of her work both beautiful and slightly unnerving.
Eva Hesse’s collection of wobbly bits and bobs, curated by Briony Fer, might leave those unfamiliar with Hesses’ creations a little underwhelmed and wondering what all the fuss is about. For a die-hard Hesse fan like me, they are one more clue to this mysterious, minimalistic artist who lived a tragic life and died too young; Hesses’s mother committed suicide when she was 10 and Hesse herself died from a brain tumour at 34. Looking at photos of her in her studio, she has a very attractive James Dean quality about her- a popular comparison made at the time and often dismissed by her friends and critics.
Eva Hesse, courtesy of Eva Hesse estate
However, it’s all too easy to get carried away with the myth of the artist. What you need to keep in mind is the absurd quality of her work. Hesse’s delicacy came about naturally but what she aimed for was a play with objects, materials and ideas.
Ingeminate, courtesy of Hauser and Wirth
‘Ingeminate’ (a work not included in the exhibition), has an air of futility about it. These two cord-wrapped balloons are joined by rubber tubing, leading nowhere and resulting in nothing despite the sexual connotations of both the appearance and name of the work. Her ‘Studioworks’ repeat the same ideas and shapes over and over in different materials; she is testing them out, looking for the best way to express these absurdities.
Hesse’s little unfinished experimentations do not need to be seen as the frustrations or fragilities of a tormented artistic soul. Her repetitions, reproductions and latex lumps suggest an originality and comical outlook. They may look unfinished but what does that mean anyway?
Eva Hesse’s Studiowork exhibition runs until the 7th of March 2010.
Tags:
American art, Camden Arts Centre, elliott smith, Eva Hesse, Gallery exhibition review, installation, Johnny Cash, london, modern art, sculpture
