Hang Up 1966

Eva Hesse created ‘Hang Up’ using painted cloth over wood and laquered cable, challenging the very nature of painting and sculpture. The work is dominated by a rectangular frame, a hollow echo of traditional painting, that juts out aggressively from the wall. From this frame emerges a limp, almost mournful, cable that loops out into space, only to return and re-enter the frame at another point. This unexpected gesture undermines the stability we expect from both painting and sculpture. Hesse plays with absence and presence. The frame, usually a boundary that defines and contains, is here violated, its emptiness exposed. The rigid geometry of the frame contrasts with the meandering line of the cable, which destabilizes any fixed meaning. Hesse's piece prompts us to consider the space between definition and fluidity, between the object and its shadow, between the artwork and the space it occupies. This piece invites ongoing interpretation.