Tarantula: Authors and Art's Featured Artist of October
Emotional Self-Portraits with Swedish Sculptor Eva Hild
”My sculptures are bodies, exposed to pressure and movements.
Influence, pressure, strain. These words have been the foundation for my current projects that comprise communicating the theme in large, thin-built sculptures. Delicate continuously flowing entities. They reflect varying degrees of external and internal pressures, and how, as a consequence, perception of inner and outer space is changed or challenged.
On one hand, it is the mass in thin layers, running in a meander-like closed movement. On the other hand it is the empty space, air and light forming volumes, described by the contours of the mass. The construction is really made of the absent.
My fascination is about the relationship between internal and external realities; the dualism between inside and outside, content and form, feeling and shape, impression and expression. The shape consists of continuously flowing inner and outer surfaces, with thin lines running through the form. Inside turns outside and the movement gives the sculpture its uniformity and identity. The empty space is drawn into the form and becomes one with it; the air fills the cavities.
It is a reflection of my inner landscapes of form. Everyday, I experience the tension between presence and absence. My sculptures show me the necessity of opposites; they are paradoxes. Bodies where presence and absence meet."
- Eva Hild
From the initial idea to its completion, a sculpture can take longer than planned. It took Eva Hild ten years to finish her sculptures that were presented as a solo exhibition under the title “STERNUM” at the GSA Gallery in Stockholm in September. For us at Tarantula Authors And Art her exhibition came right in time as we were generously invited by Mia Nevado, the founder of the Look Up Movement, to a phone free event at the gallery.
After the inspirational presentation by the artist, we indulged in her art that not only reflected the artist herself, but what we found mirroring was our own individual emotional self portraits as well as of the collective that came to the gallery that evening. And as difficult or light our own selves felt at the given moment, interacting with the sculptures gave us a sense that both, the liked and disliked, parts of our bodies and souls create a feeling of completeness, a whole.
Since the gallery is in our back yard, we were grateful that we could go back and visit the sculptures again. We witnessed as the two big steel structures shape shifted into different forms, rupturing at times, and at other times letting our breaths swirl peacefully around their smooth contours, as well as opening portals into other dimensions that were not visible at first site. The sculptures turned us into playful children that wanted to climb up the art and to put our legs and arms through the multitude of holes that decorated them, if only we weren’t in a gallery setting.
Thus, we are extremely excited that the artist, Eva Hild, gave us an opportunity to learn more about her as an artist and about her art by accepting our invitation for a collaboration this October. Dear readers, we hope that you will enjoy this journey with us. Stay open! Stay curious!