For Jessica Stockholder, everyday life is not grey, but colourful. The American-Canadian object and installation artist takes a very unique look at the things of everyday life, creating a colourful fusion of painting, sculpture and surroundings with imagination and a keen eye.
(...) Continue readingJessica Stockholder recognised sculpture as her artistic vocation
Jessica Stockholder was born in Seattle in the US state of Washington in 1959, but spent her childhood and youth in Vancouver, Canada; she holds both American and Canadian citizenship. She initially moved to London for her studies, where she attended the Camden School of Art from 1977 to 1979 and then returned to Vancouver to attend a four-month course at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, Stockholder remained in Canada and studied at the University of Victoria, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1982. As a student of painting, she spent her early years working primarily in this field, but realised more and more clearly that sculpture was her true vocation and that only sculpture could offer her the desired opportunities for development. As early as 1983, Stockholder created her first large-scale spatial installation, which she called Installation in My Father's Back Yard. Under these new auspices, she resumed her studies, which she completed in 1985 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, with a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture.
International success as freelance artist
Jessica Stockholder began her career as a freelance artist, supported financially by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. From early on, she was one of the recognised, celebrated and supported pioneers of contemporary object art; in Germany, the young American artist came to the attention of patron and gallery owner Rolf Ricke, and Stockholder’s work was soon shown all over the world, including at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Venice Biennale and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The latter even made objects by the artist part of a permanent exhibition.
The surrounding space is part of the artwork
The surroundings are an important part of Jessica Stockholder’s art. The place where an object is created is not just an interchangeable backdrop, but is incorporated into the composition. The space is part of the art, it belongs to the object. Which objects are ultimately used and combined is not important to the artist; it can be a useful object or rubbish, old or new, everything depends on the inspiration of the moment. Stockholder cites Paul Cézanne, Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Judy Pfaff, Kurt Schwitters, Richard Serra and Frank Stella, among others, as important influences for her work, but has herself long since become a role model and important inspiration for young artists. She has taught at various universities, and on the occasion of her 25th anniversary was celebrated by the New York Times as one of the most important contemporary artists for her art, which breaks through the outer boundaries of space.
Jessica Stockholder lives and works today in Chicago, Illinois.
Jessica Stockholder - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
