Everyday Abstraction: A Q&A with Jessica Stockholder by Taylor Dafoe
Jessica Stockholder's work is difficult to talk about because it eschews so many of the typical classifications we use to discuss contemporary art: "installation," "site-specific," "ephemeral." Indeed, that's one of the most central elements of her practice: the dissolving of boundaries.
Look no further than her immersive new show at Mitchell Innes & Nash, "The Guests All Crowded Into the Dining Room." In it, multifaceted sculptures made from found items are installed sporadically throughout the space, calling into question what belongs with what. Discarded scallop shells rest atop blue ice cube trays. An old dance floor tile is mounted to the wall above sheets of industrial metal fencing. A sagging square of linoleum hangs from a rusty hinge. There are two new pieces from her "Assists" series — modular sculptures that can only stand upright when attached to something else: a car, a piano, or in this case, two threadbare lounge chairs the artist sourced from Craigslist. (Though, the furniture isn't technically a part of the sculpture: "If you buy an 'Assist' attached to a piano, you don't get the piano," Stockholder says.)
Finally the show's central work, the eponymous "The Guests All Crowded Into the Dining Room," features a large, winding, wooden stage connected to an elevated deck gallery-goers are encouraged to walk onto. Part sculpture, part viewing platform, part pedestal, it's easy to love, but hard to explain why.
While the installation was wrapping up in the gallery, Stockholder sat down with Artinfo to talk about the show and some of the larger themes that run throughout all her work.
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![Photo by Panic Studio LA, courtesy of City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs DCA). Image © [Rirkrit Tiravanija 2016]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59cc690fcf81e0b2a21215aa/1510076176123-JLTFQYC7H2RP8V9ELLR9/image-asset.jpeg)
