ERIC HESSE
Paintings in Encaustic
BIO
Eric Hesse was born in the Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania. As a student, he was introduced to the ancient medium of encaustic as a challenging and rewarding alternative to other paints. Over time he became fascinated with the malleable and durable nature of wax and pigment until they became his primary painting medium. After attending Temple University in Philadelphia, Hesse transferred to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota where he received a BA with Departmental Distinction. Hesse has received awards from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. He has exhibited in galleries throughout the US, including the Corcoran Museum in Washington DC, and is currently represented by the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles CA. In 2018 Hesse received an artist residence permit from the French government and presently lives with his wife and son in a village in the department of Tarn.
ABOUT ENCAUSTIC
Hesse uses traditional encaustic, which is made of 3 simple ingredients: purified, refined beeswax, powdered pigment, and a touch of dammar gum.* The wax is melted on an electric skillet in various containers and applied to a panel while still hot. It cools/dries instantly and must then be further manipulated with multiple tools (razors, other blades) before being reheated a final time with a hot-air gun, which fuses the paint to the surface.
Encaustic predates oil paint by more than 1400 years; portraits hanging in the Louvre from the 1st and 2nd century AD are in excellent condition. The paintings are durable because beeswax is preservative and chemically inert. There is also no long-term drying process for the paint surface to endure; it is either molten or solid (its melting point is 62 C, so it will not melt on a wall).
Molten wax that hardens immediately is a complex material to control. The tension between what the painting ‘wants’ as its surface is repeatedly built up, scraped, and remelted and what I demand creates a dialogue that I find captivating. This back-and-forth process can be very time-consuming, but the final product is unparalleled: a durable, luminous, jewel-like surface that can be polished to a lustrous shine.
*Dammar is sap obtained from trees in India and East Asia and is used as a hardening agent, making the paint surface less impressionable.