Jessica Stockholder brings together her enduring interest in painting and an affinity for the vivid imaginings of Henri Matisse in this brightly colored, formal composition. Here, a plastic watering can in part alludes to domestic content, but it acts primarily as a green and yellow shape emerging from diverging wooden planes, partially painted yellow. A purple rope “pours” out of the can: an absurdist play on the object’s original function as well as a visual connection between these disparate materials. Meanwhile, the black geometric field at top right is balanced by the brightly colored organic form that drapes downward on the left. Together, these everyday objects celebrate color, form, and balance.
 
Stockholder began as a painter and later moved into sculpture and installation by incrementally dismantling these mediums. She began by moving her paintings beyond their frames and later onto the floor—as seen here—and in the years since, her works have filled entire gallery spaces. However, the artist has stated that she “never stopped making paintings. And still, part of what interests me is a pictorial way of looking at things.”

Label from October 2018