Jessica Stockholder at Laumeier Sculpture Park

With an approach that has dominated work from the mid to late 2000’s, Stockholder stages multiple mass-produced objects with proportion and balance in scale and color to form a cohesive whole. Before you dismiss Stockholder as yet another artist “arranging stuff with other stuff,” as I carelessly almost did, consider her esteemed career of nearly three decades and counting. What’s shocking is that Stockholder, the mother of this found object assemblage movement, was not included in the New Museum’s 2008 exhibition, Unmonumental–a survey intended to encapsulate this precarious approach to art making.

Laumeier’s intimate indoor galleries feature ten separate works. While these solitary pieces divide the space, their isolation reinforces each individual formal composition. Paint is thoughtfully applied to the objects or their surrounding areas, drawing upon abstraction to negate the narrative of the very familiar objects. Her best sculptures in the exhibition swallow up preconceived notions. As if never having been a shower curtain or lampshade, they are utilized for pure aesthetic value.

Images courtesy of Laumeier Sculpture Park.
Grab grassy this moment your I’s is on view at Laumeier Sculpture Park, in St. Louis, MO through May 29, 2011.