Eva Hesse was hugely influential on the postminimalism art movement of the 60s, despite only being active for the 10 years before her death in 1970 from a brain tumor.
Postminimalism is recognizable by complexity and simplicity. The sculpture here at first appears simplistic, like a spider web or party streamers. But it is very complex with overlapping forms and depth. It also appears to be floating in air, unlike a spider web, not attached to anything.
Hesse's work has been described as anti-form. Like the sculpture, while the stands all seem to be uniform in shape and size, their position in space is quite the opposite.
This chaotic mass could be influenced by her childhood, when at 8 her family fled Nazi Germany and immigrated to New York City. However, Hesse, like her works, was reluctant to give any concrete definition of any of her works, allowing them to speak for themselves.
Spiders in art often symbolize feminism and motherhood. The spider and her web are at the same time deadly and delicate. The web offers a safe place to nurture young, but deadly to intruders or prey. Her work has been praised at highlighting womens issues objectively without a political agenda.
With this in mind, the piece perhaps takes on an entirely different meaning - perhaps highlighting the beautiful chaos of life.
Other postminimalism works include this spider at the Guggenheim in Spain:
While the installation was created in 1999, there is perhaps a continuation from Hesse's work.
