Dangling freely in front of a neutral background of classic white gallery wall, the ‘curtains’ of American artist Eva LeWitt appear as a mere aesthetically pleasing installation, but beyond the tenderly contrasting colors, there’s more to the story of the sculptures currently on display at the VI, VII, Gallery in Oslo.
Created from a mixture of foam, latex and polyurethane, the focus is on symmetry and collusion of form, but remove just one of the bright sponges that weigh down the strips and the whole piece implodes, the polyurethane strips sticking together and throwing the vertical form into disarray. Inspired by the independence that the malleable, manageability of the materials grants her, LeWitt explained her choices to Artsy, “My inspiration always comes from the materials themselves. I have gravitated towards soft, synthetic, colourful materials; plastic bags, sponges, yarn, tape, etc. I struggled for a time using traditional sculptural materials such as plywood, steel, fibreglass. But these materials hurt me—literally and figuratively. I prefer to work in complete solitude, and I physically could not manage these materials alone. I could not dominate them or manipulate them the ways I wanted to. That is why I choose soft, tactile, materials. I want to be able to control and transform the materials.”
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