Eva Hesse Quotes

“Chaos can be structured as non-chaos. That we know from Jackson Pollock.”

— Eva Hesse

“I would like the work to be non-work. This means that it would find its way beyond my preconceptions ... It is the unknown quantity from which and where I want to go. As a thing, an object, it accedes to its non-logical self. It is something, it is nothing.”

— Eva Hesse

“I think art is a total thing. A total person giving a contribution. It is an essence, a soul.. In my inner soul art and life are inseparable”

— Eva Hesse

Don't ask what the work is. Rather, see what the work does.

— Eva Hesse

“Art and work and art and life are very connected and my whole life has been absurd. There isn't a thing in my life that has happened that hasn't been extreme - personal health, family, economic situations ... absurdity is the key word ...”

— Eva Hesse

“I am interested in solving an unknown factor of art and an unknown factor of life.”

— Eva Hesse

“What makes a tight circle or a tight little square box more of an intellectual statement than something done emotionally, I don't know. Art is an essence, a center.”

— Eva Hesse

“I have a confidence in my understanding of formal aesthetics and I don't want to be aware of it or make that my problem.”

— Eva Hesse

My life and art have not been separated. They have been together.

— Eva Hesse

Excellence has no sex.

— Eva Hesse

Life doesn't last, art doesn't last

— Eva Hesse

“First feel sure of idea, then the execution will be easier.”

— Eva Hesse