Ceramic Sculptures | Eva Hild

Smooth, Soft and Sexy !  Eva Hild is a ceramic sculptor who lives and works in the southwest of Sweden. Her works may be described as elegant topological forms that are reminiscent of minimal surfaces since the surfaces basically have a hyperbolic geometry. Through hand-building, Hild gradually builds up her sculptures, change their direction  and make connections, making smooth surfaces all with the same thickness.  When her forms are ready and the clay is dry, she sands away at the surface. Pieces are fired  twice at stoneware temperature 1200 degrees celsius and finally treated with silicate color.

Statement from Eva Hild:

Influence, pressure, strain. These words have been the foundation for my current projects that comprise communicating the theme in large, hand-built clay forms. Delicate continuously flowing entities in white thinbuilt clay. They reflect varying degrees of external and internal pressures, and how, as a consequence, perception of inner and outer space is changed or challenged.

My sculptures are bodies, exposed to pressure and movements.
On one hand, it is the mass in thin layers, running in a meander-like closed movement. On the other hand it is the empty space, air and light forming volumes, described by the contures of the mass. The construction is really made of the absent; the emptiness, the holes of air. The obvious body just defines the volume.

My fascination is about the relationship between the internal and external realities; the dualism between inside and outside, content and form, feeling and shape, impression and expression. The shape consists of continuously flowing inner and outer surfaces, with one line running through the form. Inside turns outside and the loop gives the sculpture its uniformity and identity. The empty space is drawn into the form and becomes one with it; the air fills the cavities.

The last years I have expanded my work with a darker clay body.
In the white sculptures, the air and light have just as much importance as the obvious body; they are equals. In comparison, the dark material absorbs light, and is by itself enough. The fragility is still there in the thin walls and delicate constructions, but the colour and appearance talks a language of weight, strength and capability.

Going from the light and etherical into something dark and heavy has been a necessity but also a challenge. My themes and on-going exploration of emotional states and relations have developed further, and the addition of new components has deepend the content and expression.

I feel a great freedom in hand-building. It grows slowly, I have time to reflect, I can change direction, make connections and have a smooth surface with the same thickness. When the form is ready and the clay is dry, I sand away at the surface. The pieces are fired twice and finally treated with silicate colour, linseed oil and pigments.