I am able to think: Conversation with Jessica Stockholder

There are lots of sculptures out there in the art world; however, Jessica Stockholder’s sculptures stand out among all of the sculptures from my perspective. I think it is because of its uniqueness and how the objects in each sculpture are super close to our daily lives. When the objects are combined, they give me the feeling of entering and living in a surreal world, although she mentions that her works of art do not have specific intentions. For example, in her sculpture “Door Hinges,” we can see a bath and a street lamp placed together. From the sculpture, I get the feeling that I am in a bathtub and looking out through the door in the night. This creates a surreal feeling for me because we don’t usually get the opportunities to do it in real life. 

When it comes to the question of what you think is the function of your art; Stockholder gives out the answer of, “I don’t think my work has a function, but I think in one way or another it asks you to notice some things.” Stockholders want the viewers to pay attention; it is essential to pay attention to something mundane and overlooked. And she is interested in embodied experiences acts as a metaphor for the way in which I’m able to think. By looking at her sculpture, there is no way we can deny Stockholder is not thinking about his project. She demonstrated her ability to find meaning for each object and combine them together to create a sculpture that I can bring in my own interpretation and imagination as viewers. 

During the visual meeting with her, she doesn’t think that there is progress in art. She mentions that human beings have continued to change and shift; however, we have not progressed any further as human beings. In her words, “We keep living.” I feel like she brought up a critical point because I feel like looking back, art is making progress. Today we are making progress too. We develop new kinds of techniques that help in improving art. We have better machines or places to aid artists in expressing their beliefs more clearly and more explicitly. I think what she means here is that there are still lots of miserable or difficulties in the art world, and as human beings, we haven’t found a solution to solve them or make them any better. 

Circling back to the question of intentions in the work of art, Stockholder discovers her intentions as she’s working. There is no intention for the sculptures that she constructed. However, she intends to make things that surprise her and take her to places outside of what she already knows. This brings her to be aware of how putting objects in different spaces changes them. Also, Stockholder is very aware of her limits and controls. She thinks that as human beings, we should learn the limits and learn to control ourselves to survive. From exploring her more into the realm of limits and controls, she finds her way of putting herself into the places of what she already knows and not know. 

From her sculptures, I feel like I should trust myself, let art represent my heart, and make art without considering intentions. I feel Stockholder taught us that allowing ourselves to push through the limits and being aware of what you can control can better understand ourselves as human beings.