Last month, my brother Gavin and my niece Rosa were in New York for a few days, so I planned a family trip to the Museum of Arts and Design to see the wonderful and very well-publicized Dead or Alive exhibit. Although some may question the show’s appropriateness for a three-year-old, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and as I suspected, Rosa was fascinated by it. Another plus, I reasoned, was that she would love the museum’s Open Studios program on the sixth floor, where you can actually see artists at work. That’s where we met the young artist Jessica Stoller. Besides being transfixed by her lovely wrist tattoo, her work was unlike anything else I had ever seen. When I asked her if I could do a feature on her, she kindly agreed to an interview and invited me to her studio in Bushwick to photograph her work.
HM: There seem to be only a handful of artists working in ceramics. How did you decide on the medium?
JS: I really enjoy the open potential of clay and its ability to imitate other materials and transform functions. In the past I have worked with many different materials, but with this body of work, the history of the figurine plays an important role. I am also interested in how the material can be perceived as an outsider or “hobbyist” medium, especially with some of the ceramic processes I’m using, such as lace draping and china painting.
HM:One of the things that struck me right away about your work was the painstaking technical execution that goes into it. Can you describe the process of creating one of your pieces?
JS: Each piece is different, but I tend to start with both contemporary and historic “found” images and photoshop them together. Bernini’s St. Theresa In Ecstasy might have piles of tulle around her and flowers growing out of her eyes, for example. Once I have a general idea, I usually slip cast and hand build the piece to achieve the form. I also use the process of lace draping, which was developed in the late eighteenth century, where fabric is turned into porcelain. The process involves dipping fabric or lace into “slip”, or liquid clay. I mold, cut and assemble it onto the pieces, and once the sculpture is dry, I bisque fire and glaze it. The final step is china painting, which is an overglaze that is mixed and painted onto the piece, and then kiln fired to make it permanent. The color can be layered and fired multiple times to achieve specific depth.
HM: Your work is heavily influenced by, among other things, fashion, it’s dictates and commodification and it’s relationship to pop culture. This is nothing new of course, and it works both ways. I recall Cindy Sherman’s brilliant collaboration with Comme Des Garcons in the nineties (I strongly regret having disposed of the direct mail advertising postcards that were sent to me), Takashi Murakami’s with Louis Vuitton, and now Jenny Holzer’s designs for Keds. Is the relationship between fashion and art a comfortable one for you?
JS: Yes, it is. I look at a lot of contemporary fashion images, as well as historical movements that subjugated the female body: foot binding, corsets, etc. I am interested in incorporating this imagery into the work and manipulating contemporary mass-produced images of women and girls. I also follow designers that push the boundaries of fashion/femininity and who speak about larger issues with their collections. My inspiration comes in many different forms, and its great that all of these different spheres have become more fluid. The Cindy Sherman/Comme Des Garcons collaboration, as well as Marilyn Minter’s billboards are really interesting to me: the reflection goes both ways and new boundaries are crossed. With my work, at this point, I am still acting as spectator rather than participant/collaborator, but I’m open to that avenue in the future.
HM: Would you consider your work to be “feminist”? I know that many younger women are hesitant to attach themselves to that word.
JS: Yes, I definitely understand that that impulse, and I would agree. I think younger artists tend to steer away from the word because it generally denotes work made in the early seventies which carried a very specific conceptual basis and methodology. I think if it were to be used now, it could limit the way the work is seen and discussed, unless that is the artist’s actual intention – it has the potential to be an isolating and didactic term. I try to steer clear of specific labels in general: ceramicist, feminist, etc., because the work can speak to many things simultaneously. Clearly, I’m working under the progress that the first wave of feminism has opened up, but thankfully the dialogue has broadened and shifted over the years.
HM: Comment on the restrictive imagery involved in your work: the use of blindfolds, gagging and chains for instance.
JS: I like that term, “restrictive imagery”! I like the executioner’s hood/gag/chain for the subversive context of the imagery when mixed with the decorative context of the lace. The mask serves as a tool to cloak identity and to silence the female figure both literally and metaphorically. I also like the psycho-sexual references they lend: are they the victimizers or the perpetrators? The line is blurred. I also think that by working in the figurine scale people instantly relate to the pieces as dolls, but their faces being obscured/more menacing, helps move them beyond that realm. You don’t get caught up focussing on their “pretty faces”. Its less about the individual, and more about the iconography of the images.
HM: Where would you like to see yourself in the next few years?
JS: In terms of my artistic career, I’d like to be showing my work on a more consistent basis. A solo New York City show, and/or suitable gallery representation would be ideal. A more steady career, that could enable me to work less at my “day job” – I’d like to have more studio time and the ability to participate in long term residencies. I’m also interested in teaching, but the jobs are very hard to come by here in New York. I’m basically always striving to improve my life in every way!
HM: People will want to know who does your tattoos.
JS: Eric at Inkstop.
