Julia von Eichel, born in St Gallen, Switzerland, lives and works in New York. Her most recent solo exhibition in 2014 was at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York, and consisted of a series of “shadow box sculptures”, mylar and string constructions encased in circular plexiglass boxes, a medium that she has developed over the years and which evokes diaphanous 3D drawings. Her new series of wall sculptures takes a bold departure, as their physical presence is nothing but ethereal. An inventor of her own techniques, Julia von Eichel constructs a complex skeleton with wood, string, and plastic that is covered with gessoed fabric. The relationship between the hidden structure and the white skin brings to mind historical predecessors like Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, but the tortured forms are infused with a psychological content—metaphors of human expressions of grief. First conceived as a means of consolation after a personal loss, they assume a myriad of different meanings beyond their formal virtuosity.
Artist’s CV
