Jessica Stockholder: Kissing The Wall Review

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Jessica Stockholder: Kissing The Wall Review
Jessica Stockholder's work appears deceptively simple at first; common household materials gathered together, displayed in conjunction with the gallery environment in a seemingly haphazard manner, colors and shapes randomly applied. Looking deeper at her art, however, unveils a complexity inherent in the works; relationships that address the microcosmic vis-à-vis the macrocosmic place humans inhabit, and the importance of time and place in the hierarchy of a world-view.
Likewise, the book's cover works in the same manner as Stockholder's art, showing a seemingly simple, common publication to accompany her exhibition; the inner sleeves simply and effectively summarize Stockholder's career leading up to this current installation, a list of the authors of the several essays inside, and on the outside a colorful assembly of bright orange and purple blocks, aligned in linear fashion, surrounding a picture of a Stockholder piece. Looking deeper at the details and the composition of the book offers a much more detailed and rewarding experience.
The book was printed in conjunction with a retrospective show of Stockholder's work form 1988 through 2003. Included within is a very insightful interview with Jessica Stockholder by Nancy Doll and Terrie Sultan, in which they explore many facets of the artist's work, with the primary emphasis on process. Next are several essays, one by medieval historian Elspeth Carruthers, who explores Stockholder's work in relation to medieval notions about mapping and legal documents; the other by Miwon Kwon, Professor of Art at UCLA, exploring the use of composition and space. Following these essays are 31 pages of high quality color photographs of her work, with other photographs interspersed throughout the text of the book. A very complete and educational annotated chronology follows, in which selected quotes by the artist give added meaning to various events in her life. Again, high quality color photographs are woven in the chronology as well. Finally, selected exhibitions and publications finish off the book, allowing a look at the profundity of her work.
Stockholder's use of space and color is unique; it allows a different way to observe how the world is viewed, shifting the prism through which information in the world is processed, in turn raising questions about the nature of our existence. The power of art can be expressed and interpreted in many ways; one of the most potent is the ability of a piece of art to stir within us the question of who we are and why we are. Elspeth Carruther's essay addresses Stockholder's work in this regard by relating medieval mapping of space to Stockholder's installations. She states,
"No one has commented on the close relationship between her work and medieval modes of mapping. Just as Stockholder toys with narratives of space, mapping out visual puzzles by using familiar object, color and word play, and covert pathways in her installations in ways that appear non-linear and perhaps even nonsensical, people in the medieval period also resorted to the use of object...in their...description of physical space. (p.23)"
In her work, Skin Toned Garden Mapping , the concept of using objects and colors in a non-linear fashion functions to alter our normal way of interpreting space and time. Modern mapping uses longitude and latitude, which is very linear, to give meaning to our relationship in space and time. Stated differently, she changes "familiar landscapes by removing them in some way from their expected order, shifting the viewer's perspectives by reorienting their spatial assumptions, and sending them on what amounts to an ontological journey during which the observer redefines what is being observed" (p. 25). Stockholder offers a method of wandering that is outside of the normal experience; by changing the view she offers the viewer the opportunity to step outside of the accepted mode of existing and perhaps, for a moment at least, understand that the modern view has not always been in vogue.
Another facet of Stockholder's art addresses underlying social-economic aspects of our modern existence. The relationship of the artist in the use of material unconsciously comments on the nature of this relationship. Artists and the art that is made exist in time, in a specific culture; and the "making is always transforming that culture, even as it is determined by it" (p. 50). The gathering of detritus-like material in a formalized gallery environment is a cornerstone of Stockholder's installations. The collecting or choosing of material, to be used as art, contrasts with the traditional view of the artist as a maker of something. The artist used to be viewed as a craftsman, the maker of things; further, items in society used to be made locally by with available materials. Today the opposite is true; items are made by people never seen and in places never known about. Stockholder's art is central to this theme; that is, the collection of common material, assembled and displayed, reflects this distance from the people and places that produced it. This relationship is a characteristic of our age.
Jessica Stockholder's art works slowly; on the one hand it can be viewed as nothing more than a collection of household items, thrown together in a meaningless fashion. But given enough time, and a helpful article to prime the thinking cap, the subtle layers of her work can be seen. She is successful in portraying the world and culture we live in by gathering manufactured items and arranging them in a way that alters normal spatial relationships. She forces us to step outside of our paradigm by constructing alternate spaces, allowing us the ability to experience ourselves. This is the subtle power and beauty her work exhibits.Jessica Stockholder: Kissing The Wall OverviewThrough her use of color and assemblage, Jessica Stockholder challenges familiar generic boundaries between painting and sculpture, while de-familiarizing the experience of the exhibition space--not to mention giving the impression of a K-Mart store that's been bulldozed by a group of feminist abstract expressionists. In 1988, Stockholder created the self-contained assemblage Kissing the Wall No. 2 an old-fashion projector screen wrapped in newspaper and plaster that stands like a bad child facing a florescent lamp secured to the wall. This seminal work, from which this exhibition and catalogue take their name, uses the gallery wall as a screen kissed by various objects in what the artist calls "an emotionally charged event." This work, in which found objects become actors in the drama of space and color, is exemplary of the many objects gathered together for this retrospective look at Stockholder's self-contained assemblages since 1988. Includes an interview with the artist, scholarly essays, an annotated chronology, and a detailed exhibition and publication history.

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