Eva Rothschild talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Rothschild, born in Dublin in 1971, has a profound sense of the unique qualities and peculiar power of her discipline: sculpture. Although her art clearly relates to the history of abstraction and Modernism, it balances a reverence and deep curiosity for this sculptural history with playfulness and subversion.
Rothschild’s sculptures employ the forms and practices of popular culture, exploring gallery spaces in often unexpected ways
Eva Rothschild Hazard, 2018 Concrete, steel, synthetic polymer paint 163.5 x 625.5 x 30 cm (MA-ROTHE-00590)
In her sculptures, time-honoured avant garde principles meet the forms and practices of popular culture. Born of much instinctive experimentation in the studio, her work engages, often exuberantly, with diverse sculptural processes—from casting and welding to stacking and balancing—and properties—from weight and solidity to patina, texture and colour. As well as exploring gallery space in often unexpected ways, she has developed a rich seam of public sculpture, with major permanent works including a playground in east London.
She discusses the “material giddiness” she feels in making work, how she uses negative space and porosity as key elements in her sculpture, and why she feels that black is almost more a material than a colour. She reflects on the early influence of a catalogue of the British Museum’s Tutankamen in her family home as a child, discusses how Barbara Hepworth remains an enduring influence, recalls the shock of encountering Cady Noland’s work in a catalogue when she was a student and remembers the profound effect of seeing Sinead O’Connor perform in Dublin in the 1980s. She gives insight into her studio life and answers our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?
Rothschild balances the history of abstraction and Modernism with playfulness and subversion
Eva Rothschild Familiars, 2023 Painted bronze, glassfibre, reinforced concrete and stainless steel plinth 253 x 94 x 84 cm (MA-ROTHE-00735)
Eva Rothschild, Modern Art, Helmet Row, London, 6-28 September; Still Lives, The Hepworth Wakefield, until January 2025; solo exhibition, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 2026.
This podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app.
The free app offers access to a vast range of international cultural organisations through a single download, with new guides being added regularly. They include several organisations that have shown and collected Eva Rothschild’s work, from Tate to The Hepworth Wakefield and The Line, the public art project in East London. Download Bloomberg Connects and you will see that the guide to The Line has audio content in which Eva discusses her work for the project, Living Spring, made in 2011—one of her sculptures made from metal tubes with alternating bands of bright colour and black. The guide has details of all the other works on the trail, including two sound pieces by a former guest on A brush with…, Larry Achiampong. You can hear the works on the app alongside Larry’s audio commentary.
