Eva Rothschild
Eva Rothschild has been commissioned to make new works to be installed as part of the new Sadler’s Wells building in East London. The building, designed by the architectural practice O’Donnell+Tuomey, is due to be completed and to open in 2022.
For this commission Rothschild has proposed a series of tapestries for the new Sadlers Wells foyer and bar area. There is a long tradition of artists tapestry in public spaces and as a medium it’s richness of colour and texture is unequalled in terms of visual impact. The physical qualities of the weave enhance the environment beyond the visual by dampening harsh acoustics and bringing a sense of warmth and balance in to the architectural setting.
Rothschild has a strong interest in tapestry and the ambiguous relationship between painting, sculpture and the woven surface has been key to her practice for many years. Her early works included woven paper hangings and more recently she has made resin cast rugs and circular wall pieces in which hundreds of leather strips are tied together to create a complex but complete surface in which it is difficult for the eye to understand where one colour begins and another ends. She is interested in the way that colour changes can be modulated through a surface by the addition of different elements, which she has explored in her woven leather pieces wants to acheive a greater sense of movement over a surface through addition of colour as central to any new work. Her aim is to create a series of works that are visually absorbing and multi-layered, presenting as complete coherent pieces but making explicit the complexity that is needed to approach such an idea of wholeness.
As part of her proposal the artist stated:
‘I am interested in making objects for looking and much of my work is characterised by the use of unstable geometric forms that are brought together to create a discontinuous but complete whole. I feel that this approach which embraces multiplicity brings it into dialogue with dance and this is something I have actively pursued over the past few years in my work with choreographers Jo Lloyd and Joe Moran. I am very interested in the possibilities for exchange between contemporary dance and visual art and would welcome the opportunity to expand this dialogue in a different way through this commission.’
About the artist
Eva Rothschild (b. 1971 Dublin, Ireland) lives and works in London. Predominantly sculptural, yet highly conceptual, Rothschild’s work is rendered in a varied range of materials including aluminium, jesmonite, leather, wood, tiles and paper. Her work references art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and is also informed by the aesthetics of protest and spirituality. Rothschild is concerned with the physical experience of sculpture and our relationship with objects and ways of looking. she has a materials based studio practice but also works on major public and outdoor commissions.
Eva Rothschild’s work has been the subject of institutional solo exhibitions including Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (2018), Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane (2014), Nasher Sculpture Center (2012), Hepworth Wakefield (2011), South London Gallery (2007), and Kunsthalle Zürich (2004). In 2009 she was awarded the Tate Britain annual Duveens’ commission, for which she produced Cold Corners, a vast rambling geometric sculpture that occupied the length of the neo-classical galleries. In 2019, she represented Ireland at the 58th Venice Biennale.
