Esther Stocker

Posted by Fabio 23 April 2010

The paintings, murals and installations of Italian artist Esther Stocker, based on grid structures and on the colors black, white and gray feels like real-life, 3-D optical illusions and somehow challenges our conceptions of spatial geometry.
We caught up with Stocker to hear a bit about her future plans and found out Stocker hates colour.

Where do you live?
In Vienna

Does your surroundings influence your type of work?
Yes, I live in a place where a lot of neurosises where invented. It is very inspiring.

Untitled, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm

Untitled, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 300 cm

How would you describe your work in 3 words?
I hate color.

Installationsansicht geometrisch betrachtet, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Wien, 2008.
Wood, dispersion, 939 x 3416 x 448 cm, Photo: Pez Hejduk

What general emotions do you call on when you create your work?
Loneliness, desperation, excitement.

What do you do to switch off?
I don´t switch off. I don´t want to relax.

Untitled, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 140 x 160 cm

Untitled, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 140 x 160 cm

Who would your ultimate collaboration be with, from any field you choose, and why?
Georg Cantor, the mathematician. Because he formulated the most beautiful paradoxes in formal thinking.
But he is dead unfortunately.

Tell us something no-one else knows about you?
I won´t even tell myself those things.

What did you struggle with the most when you were starting up?
Paying the rent. Explaining to my mother that painting black rectangles is work?.

Untitled, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 35 x 35 cm

Do you think its possible to retain your artistic integrity and be commercially successful?
Do artists get paid for their work?

Do you ever get stuck for inspiration?
Yes! That becomes my work. It´s like being in love: You get stuck with someone. In art you get stuck with ideas.
I want to say that inspiration is partly being stuck with something.

What are some of your goals for 2010?
Can you talk about any current or future projects that you are particularly excited about.
I make new paintings where diagonal structures interact with the perfect right angle, or where a gestural brushstroke meets a perfect edge.
I want to know how an insecure, unbalanced sign meets a solid, strong sign. For the next year I will translate some of this experiments in spatial installations. With a friend I work on the structure of a Pavillon.

What is your favorite time of the day?
Sleeping time! Good night

www.estherstocker.net