伊娃·黑塞认领

Lucy Lippard, who organized the seminal show Eccentric Abstraction, was originally disappointed with Hesse's selection of Metronomic Irregularity II for the exhibition, due primarily to the work's apparent lack of sexual or organic qualities. Here, we see Hesse interested in something relatively free of erotic overtones, but just as extraordinary, by marrying Minimalist forms with Expressionist gesture. Indeed, the square pieces of slate with equal spaces of blank wall between them utilize the formal, highly reductive vocabulary of Minimalism. This visually muted impression is overcome, however, by the twisted fibers that approximate the effects of early 1950s "Action Painting". The push and pull between these different sources of inspiration and such starkly contrasting textures create a dissonance that gives Metronomic Irregularity a unique intensity, evoking at once the beat of a clock and the disarray of an all-enveloping windstorm.

A German exhibition by Jean Tinguely may have triggered the kitschy, playful vein of Ringaround Arosie, although Hesse was already familiar with the erotic surrealism of Marcel Duchamp. We might also see in this work the playful, absurd qualities of Dada, as well as the more fantastic, futuristic elements of late Bauhaus as manifested in the abstract theatrical costumes of Oskar Schlemmer and others of pre-war German design culture. Hesse has identified the two central objects as a breast and a penis, which lends the work a humorous quality; at the same time, the relief exudes a stereotypically feminine persona with its pink tonality and craft-like texture. The title, which recalls a well-known childhood game with a haunting subtext referring to "falling down" or similarly suffering a calamity, has been interpreted as a statement of Hesse's own desire at that time to become a mother. As if giving birth to another dimension in her own work, this first relief by Hesse is an important landmark in her evolving path from painting to so-called "eccentric" sculpture.