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Eva Hesse in her Bowery Studio, circa 1967.

Hesse was uniquely aware of the complex temporalities of working with plastics in her art practice. In a 1970 interview with Cindy Nemster, she said the following:

“Well, I am confused about that [my work lasting] as I am about life. I have a two-fold problem. I’m not working now, but I know I’m going to get to the problem once I start working with fiberglass because from what I understand it’s toxic and I’ve been too sick to really take a chance…. And then the rubber only lasts a short while I am not sure where I stand on that. At this point I feel a little guilty when people want to buy it. I think they know but I want to write them a letter and say it’s not going to last…. Part of me feels that it’s superfluous and if I need to use rubber that is more important. Life doesn’t last; art doesn’t last. It doesn’t matter….”

From Cindy Nemster, Art Talk: Conversations with Twelve Women Artists (1975), reproduced online here: https://msu.edu/course/ha/452/hesse.html

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