Lily van der Stokker: Help help a little old lady here

Lily van der Stokker (b. Den Bosch, Netherlands, 1954) has been renowned since the early 1990s for her playful wall paintings in bright colors. Floral motifs and ornamental clouds are dominant elements in works whose aesthetic and fluorescent palette bring Pop art to mind. Meticulously executed in a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, the murals are based on small-format drawings the artist prepares with scrupulous precision. Simplicity and humor are hallmarks of van der Stokker’s oeuvre. Integrated text fragments or affirmative messages such as “Friendly Good,” or “Hoi” often directly address the viewer. Recurrent concerns in her art revolve around the stereotype of “femininity,” ostensible banalities, but also the economics of art and everyday life or the artist’s existence. Her playful use of color can also be read as a challenge to a conventional bourgeois conception of art for which exuberant colorfulness is incompatible with reflective gravitas. The solo exhibition at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst provides the most comprehensive insight into van der Stokker’s oeuvre to date, encompassing more than 10 wall paintings as well as several drawings dating from the late 1980s to the present.

The solo exhibition at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst provides a comprehensive insight into van der Stokker’s oeuvre to date. An accompanying publication has been released in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and Roma Publications.

Curator: Dr. Raphael Gygax
Director: Heike Munder