Eva Spierenburg’s work is difficult to compare with anything else. The way in which the work is made, and the materials used, are not immediately apparent. One can only guess. Linen, gauze, wood, colour, dye, paint? Spierenburg leaves the viewer in the dark regarding form, structure and composition. But the work also remains a mystery in terms of content. Spierenburg herself writes the following about her work: ‘I am interested in the correlation between our inner processes and our physical body in interaction with the world. I regard the body as the vessel of the individual; a shell in which experiences and sensory perceptions manifest themselves and are archived. Through my work, I try to find a form for human experiences that elude grasp and language. Recurring themes include the vulnerability of body and mind, transience, and the encounter between extremes such as presence-absence, internal-external, solid-soft, earthly-spiritual. Naturally, Spierenburg’s account is significant because it indicates what the work is fundamentally about. However, even without her account, Spierenburg’s work stands on its own.
Eva Spierenburg (, 1987).
