Eli Heil began painting and drawing in 1962, after a long illness forced her to be bed-ridden for over five years. Her inseparable brother, Rubens Diniz, presented her with a painting created by an artist friend. Heil, who had never seen a painting in her life proclaimed, “Even I can do this!” From there, her first “spewed out creations”, as she herself characterised her work, led her to write, “...the creative and technical processes pour out from inside of me, like coloured threads, ready to be executed. I was not interested in whether they were right or wrong, I simply vomited (creations). I didn’t stop, to the point where I was having visions...” As a result, Heil created a series of imaginary landscapes of the houses and slums of Florianópolis, where the exuberance of colour reminds one of the German Expressionist artists from the Blaue Reiter or Die Brucke groups. Heil did not become accustomed to working with a brush, as she found them too soft.
As a result, she invented a completely unique and personal technique. By means of a leather perforator, similar to an embroidery needle, the artist distributes the paint directly from the tube, spreading it over different areas of the canvas whilst applying it carefully to represent human and animal figures in the middle of a futuristic and busy landscape.
Since then, Heil is proud to say that she has invented and explored over 160 new self-taught techniques. Examples are the sculptures made from argil clay, padded and painted cloth volumes, the monumental sculptures cement made from coloured cement and the restoration of plastic bottles in diverse colours which she then melts in her kitchen oven, transforming them into animals or strange flowers. Heil works in an almost permanent trance-like state, conscious of being an “animator” who provides life and soul to those beings that urgently ask to be born (or reborn). It is from here that her expression of being “pregnant with little monsters” originates. The egg, as a symbol of life, grows in her womb until its emergence. And thus, with utmost urgency, materialises “The Egg World” that cannot stop. Firstly in a pregnant state, then the painful labour that causes her to suffer greatly but at the same time brings her such joy for being a birth filled with all the colours of the rainbow. Spirals, in a tumultuous lines and never ending ascension are present in an almost compulsive way in her work. Her creations are plentiful. The “spewed-out creations” are abundant, invading her own personal space, which led her to write, “...it’s like dreaming on earth.../Seeing my world up in the air/Surviving in space/As if I were a clown/Asking for a circus to stay?”
This is the cry the artist releases; an urgent appeal to find a place, a home, a shelter to protect her “little monsters”, who are being threatened by the voracity of termites, the damaged caused by humidity, the cold and the excessive heat of our tropics. And, as if by the kind of miracle that can only happen in Heil’s magical world, she obtains a site in the area of Santo Antônio de Lisboa, to create homes that will reunite all the creatures taken from her incredible imagination. “...these happy beings that are growing more and more to and prove that they are real...” This talent which was granted to Heil by God is a pure sentiment which is constantly within her and subsequently drives her work without any rest in order to leave behind “...that ripe fruit that many need, in the hour of thirst, in order to survive.” This species is Art, as she confirmed after the invitation to participate in the Myth and Magic exhibition, which took place at the Biennale of São Paulo: “...I want to be a humble woman, creating more and more beings to continue the Art species...”
Heil defines art as a magical force; and to get where she is today, she believes that she had to pass before the serpent in order to do so...Up until this point, Heil was selling very few of her creations and says with pride that she never began creating art to make money, but decided to sell a series of three large panel in order to make enough money to build the homes that will house her world. “The Egg World of Eli Heil” will include a large coloured bird as its emblem. During one of Heli’s visions, “The Angel Bird” flew over her roof, beating its wings whilst making a “thunderous noise”. Heil now understands that the bird has existed in her mind since 1963. The monumental piece, standing at over five metres high (the bird is perched on a large egg), is made from assembled cement and was created by Heil with the help of a “simple man, who simply made houses”. She wanted the bird to be made to replicate the image she had in her head. After completing the bird, Heil finalised two coloured polychromic sculptures, made from assembled cement and standing at more than three meters high. “Adam” and “Eve” symbolise the creation of Heil’s world. The characters welcome visitors at the exhibition doors. And with an intense joy, where “tears are colourful”, Heil stands in the corner of the room offering her heart, joy and pain for all to see. “The Egg World was created for the people! The Egg World is here to stay!” And it is – “The Egg World of Eli Heil” is here as a patrimony to humanity for good.
Nevertheless, something terrible happens and Heil, like a mother who suffers the irreparable loss of her children, cries inconsolably at the barbaric destruction of “Adam” and “Eve”, who are for a second time expelled from their earthly paradise - the “Egg World” paradise created by Eli Heil. Fortunately, Heil does not give up so easily. She possesses an almost supernatural strength. This earthly woman fights against the State Government and the killer machines, who commit such infamy in order to gain a few metres to widen the neighbouring road. Heil, who is a force of nature in herself, battles ahead. She continues to work, creating new beings that stand together like peaceful guards along the length of the Eden-like garden of her “Egg World” for always.
Paris, February 1998
Ceres Franco
Art Collector
