Thu 12/1 @ 7PM
German-American sculptor Eva Hesse’s life began in strife and ended too early. The Jewish Hesse was evacuated Germany with her sister at the age of 2 just prior to WW III and later reunited with her parents, who moved the family to New York. When she was a child, her parents divorced and her mother committed suicide.
After attending Cooper Union and Yale, she forged alliances in the ’60s with many of the era’s influential minimalist artists. She began to produce groundbreaking work that utilized unconventional, often recycled industrial materials, such as latex, fiberglass and plastic, to explore and expand upon ideas grounded in the minimalist movement. Sadly, she died of a brain tumor at age 34 in 1970, and given her lasting influence with only 10 years’ worth of work, one can only imagine what she would have achieved if she had lived a full lifespan.
And of course, her early death fueled her legend, which is explored in the new documentary Eva Hesse, looking at her work and her journals and interviewing her many art world friends. It will screen at the Akron Art Museum for free.
Akron, OH 44308