Soft Landscape 1963

Louise Bourgeois made this Soft Landscape sculpture, we don’t know when, using plaster. It’s got this great, earthy palette, almost like something you’d find in nature, but then it’s also clearly been worked by hand. It has these gloopy bits and rough patches, like she’s built it up layer by layer. You can almost feel the artist's hand in it, squishing and shaping the plaster. I love how the texture is so present; it’s not trying to hide anything. It makes you think about the physicality of making art. The plaster has this mottled look, like the surface of a strange planet, inviting you to imagine new forms of life. There's a sense of constant change and movement. Bourgeois is always playing with these dualities; hard and soft, organic and geometric. It’s a bit like Eva Hesse’s sculptures, where the material itself becomes the message. It’s all about process and letting the medium speak. It reminds me that art is always an ongoing conversation between artists, ideas, and materials.