Nicole Eisenman

With other works, the connection is established through process. Works in the series Shape Driven Heads are created via the physical act of painting, formal relationships building on one another, action determining reaction. Eisenman’s sculptural work often takes this approach as well. In ‘Head with Slab and Foot’ (2024), par exemple, the figure springs together from both found matter in the studio and elements sculpted in response to them. This piece takes the exploration of dimensional interexchange a step further by incorporating a plaster slab imprinted with an intaglio plate, corporally melding a two-dimensional image, created in response to a three-dimensional structure, with a volumetric cartouche.

The wide array of media in this exhibition perhaps most clearly and collectively demonstrates Eisenman’s remarkable ability for synthesis. As she moves between materials and forms, conversations started in one continue and transform in another. True to her artistic process, the distinctions between forms are more external than internal, derived from practicality of language. Situated between ‘painter’ and ‘sculptor,’ Eisenman is maybe best described as ‘artist.’