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Lot Essay
Hung elegantly from ceilings and walls, Trembling with Joy by Jim Hodges is a net of delicate metal chains evoking the natural wonder of a spider’s web. Executed in 1994, the web was an important idiom Hodges developed in the 1990s to explore themes that continue to preoccupy him, such as temporality, beauty and the human experience. Fragile yet resilient, the spider’s web is characteristic of the poetical economy Hodges achieves with his work, which ranges across drawing, installation and sculpture. Trembling with Joy draws the eye into the forgotten edges of spaces, where spider webs are normally found, surprising the viewer with its elusive beauty.
Studying art at the Pratt Institute in New York in the late 1980s, Hodges grappled with the legacy of Minimalism and conceptual art as well as the enduring influence of Abstract Expressionism. An important moment came when a friend and teacher told him to pursue what made him happy. For Hodges, this meant drawing. “Drawing was always a favorite thing to do, so I put the paints away and picked up the most basic materials I knew: charcoal and paper. That simple choice was a definitive moment for me….In this moment I just described, I began to pay attention to pleasure as an indicator and instructive function of my body; I tried to be sensitive to my gut as a way to zero in on things, on materials, and how they could be brought together and manipulated. It was the very beginning of identifying a personal symbolic iconography and inventing methods for making” (J. Hodges, quoted in “Choreographing Experiences in Space: Olga Viso Interviews Jim Hodges”, online [accessed: 4/8/2025]).
While drawing remains fundamental to his process, he is also fascinated by the physical impact of artworks. “I love spatial relationships and dimensionality. I’m interested in theatrical moments and choreographing experiences in space. I think as a drawer and make as a sculptor” (J. Hodges, ibid.). Trembling with Joy speaks to Hodges’s sheer pleasure in drawing, and combines it with his skill in bringing spaces to life. Seen against a white wall, the sculpture is at first glance reminiscent of a fine sketch on paper, executed in shimmering graphite. Rendered in three dimensions, it transforms into a tactile object that enchants and surprises, stimulating us to think of the material world afresh.
Studying art at the Pratt Institute in New York in the late 1980s, Hodges grappled with the legacy of Minimalism and conceptual art as well as the enduring influence of Abstract Expressionism. An important moment came when a friend and teacher told him to pursue what made him happy. For Hodges, this meant drawing. “Drawing was always a favorite thing to do, so I put the paints away and picked up the most basic materials I knew: charcoal and paper. That simple choice was a definitive moment for me….In this moment I just described, I began to pay attention to pleasure as an indicator and instructive function of my body; I tried to be sensitive to my gut as a way to zero in on things, on materials, and how they could be brought together and manipulated. It was the very beginning of identifying a personal symbolic iconography and inventing methods for making” (J. Hodges, quoted in “Choreographing Experiences in Space: Olga Viso Interviews Jim Hodges”, online [accessed: 4/8/2025]).
While drawing remains fundamental to his process, he is also fascinated by the physical impact of artworks. “I love spatial relationships and dimensionality. I’m interested in theatrical moments and choreographing experiences in space. I think as a drawer and make as a sculptor” (J. Hodges, ibid.). Trembling with Joy speaks to Hodges’s sheer pleasure in drawing, and combines it with his skill in bringing spaces to life. Seen against a white wall, the sculpture is at first glance reminiscent of a fine sketch on paper, executed in shimmering graphite. Rendered in three dimensions, it transforms into a tactile object that enchants and surprises, stimulating us to think of the material world afresh.