Scream In My Throat: Julia von Eichel at Winston Wächter Fine Art
The work of Swiss artist Julia von Eichel strikes a balance between chaos and control, resulting in powerfully ambiguous sculptures. Since residing in Brooklyn she has exhibited in numerous galleries, building her reputation as a critically acclaimed artist. The latest series from Eichel’s is being presented by New York’s Winston Wächter Fine Art, as part of their first solo exhibition of her work. The display features high-energy sculptural pieces and drawings that push the physical limits of the materials.
The series entitled, Scream In My Throat, includes predominantly monochromatic sculptures that despite the muted palette are anything but austere. The pieces are built by stretching silk over skeletal structures of wood, thread and plastic balls, with the wall-mounted sculptures appearing to spill out into the gallery space, peeling away from the walls. There are subtle hints of colour picked up from the bright plastic balls beneath the white silk, which is intensified by the light, open space. The points and ridges of the structures create shadows within a frenetic landscape across the work casting ambiguous shapes across the gallery walls. The materials are difficult to work with and the struggle to wrap these rigid, prickly objects with delicate silk is a manifestation of Eichel’s own battle to wrap her mind around personal loss. The works are violent, fraught negotiations between Eichel’s own attempt to face her own demons and manipulate the impossible materials. The silk is stretched to its physical limit, barely containing the angry skeletal structure within.
Eichel’s use of strained materials results in an inherent sense of tension and this same erupting quality is found in the bursts of colour in her abstract oil pastel drawings. Here, colour is not restrained and it used as a dramatic expression of motion. The drawings evoke the energy of neurons firing, as they feel electrically charged. Scream In My Throat expresses the anxious, latent energy humans feel when pushed to our physical and emotional limits.
Winston Wächter Fine Art
30 West 25th Street, New York,
NY 10001
Image courtesy of the gallery
