Eva Hesse Page #4

you know'? It's like...

It's like...

That's why you were an artist,

you know, so you... (CHUCKLES)

HESSE". Recently H has got out of hand.

You'll be concerned by this.

He kisses them.

H sounds so strange to write this.

But Rosie, my pride hurts

to be there watching.

H hurts.

She sort of withdrew,

you know, and, uh...

she never really come out

against it but you know,

she was very hurt by it, I think.

CHARASH:
Eva writes...

she always says it's her art

that pulled her through.

Personally, I think she fell apart,

and professionally,

she forced herself to go on.

HESSE:
Thursday, November 19th.

I've turned over a new leaf.

I will try another way.

Made drawings for children on Saturday.

They were colorful.

Red, blue, yellow, green.

In squares, each one

a letter of alphabet.

H set me off again

because they are different,

just enough to make me

wonder where I'm going,

and is there an idea,

or too many different ones?

LIPPARD:
I think maybe the

relationship going bad on some level

maybe had something to do with it.

You know, it's a horrible fact

of a lot of creativity, when you're

unhappy, you often do better Work.

But, but she really

Wasn't dependent on him

as much anymore,

I think, and really branched out

and did her own thing.

HESSE". Dear Rosie, I want to

explain what I've been doing.

In the abandoned factory where we work,

there's lots of junk around.

I have, all these months,

looked over much of the junk.

I finally started using some of it.

I'm working on masonite.

On this, I build forms

with glue and paper.

On some forms, I've glued cord.

That is when she did Ringaround Arosie.

Because I was pregnant with Joseph.

HESSE". Yesterday and today

I worked on a three

dimensional contraption.

Not finished yet, but it is Weird.

I just don't know.

The old story. Defeatist.

No patience.

Or just not sure

what I really want ll lo be.

April 2nd, 1965.

Dear Sol, H is to you I want to talk

about what is on my mind.

I trust myself not enough to come

through with any one idea.

So I fluctuate between working

at the confusion,

or non-working at the confusion.

When not actually at work,

I nevertheless struggle with the ideas.

LEWITT:
April 14th, 1965.

Dear Eva, you seem the same as always.

And being you, hate every minute of H.

Don't!

Learn to say f*** you to the world

once in awhile. You have every right to.

HESSE". I find nothing I do gives me

the feeling that this is right.

Constant frustration and failure.

LEWITT:
Just stop thinking, Worrying,

looking over your shoulder,

wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting,

hoping for some easy way out, struggling,

grasping, confusing, bitching, moaning,

groaning, horse shitting, piss-trickling,

nose sticking, eyeball-poking

ass-gouging, searching, perching,

grinding, besmirching,

grinding, grinding, away at yourself.

Stop H and just do.

HESSE". I have done drawings.

Seems like hundreds.

Clean, clear...

But crazy, like machines.

Larger and bolder,

articulately described.

Real nonsense.

LEWITT:
That sounds fine, Wonderful.

Real nonsense.

Do more. More nonsensical,

more crazy, more machines.

Make them abound with nonsense.

HESSE". One should be content

with the process

as well as the result.

I'm not.

LEWITT:
Stop Worrying

about big, deep things.

You must practice being stupid,

dumb, unthinking, empty.

Then you'll be able to do.

HESSE:
I sit now after two days

of working on a dumb thing,

which is three dimensional.

And I should go on with it,

but I don't know Where I belong.

Sol give H up again.

LEWITT:
The Work you do is very good.

Try to do some bad work, the worst you

can think of, and see what happens.

But mainly, relax

and lei everything go lo hell.

You're not responsible for the world.

You are only responsible for your work.

So do H.

HESSE'. April 23rd.

Worked all evening.

Finished An Ear in a Pond.

Dear Sol, I want to thank you

for your letter.

I finished one more.

They are good.

I'm working a third one.

Much difficulties, but at least

I'm pushing, and I will be.

I swear H.

NEKES". H was completely new,

leaving the frame

and being part of the image.

Some artists worked out of the frame,

but nearly nobody

was so radical as Eva has been.

SEROTA:
These aren't Works that

you've ever quite seen before.

They're made for herself, they're

not made for an audience.

They're made in the same way as...

her diaries were made,

or her notebooks were made.

She's exploring.

You know? I mean,

you see H in the work.

You see her trying out

different combinations.

My parents were very fond

of Eva and Tom's work.

And they wanted to show.

They thought, Well,

let's party together

and show the people what Eva and Tom

had done in this year herein Kettwig.

H was really an event.

Oxenfest, as we called it,

like ox parties,

and where a whole ox was being

put on a spit and then roasted.

NEKES:
It was a big exhibition.

Tom Doyle was a star,

internationally known

with a big exhibition in Bern,

and Eva was just a side show

in a small garden house.

But the people

were interested in her work.

HESSE". Show went well.

I sold two.

I will also show August 6th, in graphics

room in Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf.

PETZINGER:

She came to Germany as a painter.

Being in a world of new influences

helped her to create

her new universe of art,

which was the point

of no return, yeah'?

Now she was a sculptor.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

OHARASH:
Eva was in Germany

almost an entire year

before she went

to discover her background.

My father had given her information,

names and addresses,

and she sought them out.

(TRAIN CHUGGING)

She went to Hameln,

where my mother was born.

HESSE". We took train to Hameln,

found house immediately.

Very strange.

Mrs. Wolfe, a neighbor,

two of mom's school friends.

Visit to all of the workers,

former, of my grandfather.

It's a weird experience,

like a secretive mission,

a new generation seeking the past.

I, knowing next to nothing

of my family, my grandparents.

Off to Hamburg.

Went to lsestrasse.

Cried.

CHARASH:
She went to the place

where we lived,

and was turned away

by someone at the door,

which was very tough on her.

JOHANN". To not lei her in,

lei her see her home,

I think was so terrible.

So that only retrospectively can lead me

to understand how awfully difficult

it must have been for her

to face her past again.

HESSE". Dear Sol,

just returned from H and H.

Visited where I was born in Hamburg,

in Hameln, house of my mother.

Quite a trying scene.

Tears all around,

and much talk of those times

when no one knew what was happening.

I was the ghost from the past.

Their guilt and all

was just pouring out.

On to better times and doings.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

Yes, Sol, we are coming home.

(TRAFFIC BUSTLING)

That trip to Germany, with all

the hazards, was empowering.

I think she came back

very, very satisfied

that she really had taken off.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes