"The Decisiveness of Eva Hoffmann"

Some of Hoffmann's paintings are as rigid and unyielding as math equations. They are sturdy, reliable, and seem almost engineered rather than painted, put together with a welder rather than with a brush. It would be a mistake to think however that Hoffman's intention is to promote industrialization. Painting would be an unconvincing medium to convey belief in mass production and manufacturing. The lack of any detail that might burden the eye shows that the forms, which lack the evasiveness that characterizes the art in our frenetic age, are the point.

It may come as a surprise, then, that Hoffman demonstrates such tenderness in her terse interpretations of landscapes, which are pared down until they resemble color field paintings. The gentle luminosity of these paintings go beyond the frame of what seems more of a window than a canvas. What these share with her more stolid pieces is a comforting cohesiveness. Hoffman is audaciously decisive and unwilling to leave the viewer in discomfort. She is almost messianic, taking on what our nervous generation, glutted with choices, is often unable to do: selecting a path knowing that this means the rejection of infinite others.

-Eugene Hwang