Esther Stocker's work consists mainly of paintings and installations in an abstract and geometrical perspective, the two genres being closely related to each other. The artist's installations are three dimensional projections of her paintings, exclusively made with a limited palette of black, grey and white. Could they be described as spatial, sculptural paintings or rather as pictorial spaces?
Her research focuses on vision and perception of space with a social and contemporary approach. The creation of her pieces is connected to a highly elaborated mathematical discourse, an essential part of her artistic method. The artist's reflection is focused on the question: "How is a perfect system actually imperfect?". Her geometric structures are based upon eternally self-repeating modules that create a seemingly ordered visual rhythm, to which she adds aberrations in order to generate an adjacent but new rhythm. This introduction of deviation in the optical balance creates surprise and emotion through the purposeful disruption of order and plane dimension.
"In my paintings, sculptures and installations I try to describe the ambiguity and uncertainty of the system. I use the precision of a system to investigate the system itself. I try to release and abandon our ways of seeing and understanding that are associated with the recognition of forms and that distinguish us from each other, sometimes unconsciously."
Esther Stocker studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the Brera Academy of Fine Arts (Milan) and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
She regularly exhibits in international museums, foundations and galleries. A selection of her exhibits include: Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo (Italy), Museum Ritter (Germany), Art at Fuliang Festival 2023 (China), bARTh (Italy), Changwon Sculpture Biennale (South Korea), Museum Haus Konstruktiv (Zurich), Museo Vasarely (Budapest), Museo Gegenstandsfreier Kunst (Otterndorf, Germany), LA BF15 (Lyon), Setouchi Triennale (Japan), Kunsthalle Bratislava, Italian Embassy in Vienna, MACRO (Rome), Museum Ritter (Waldenbuch, Germany), Georg Kolbe Museum (Berlin), Künstlerhaus Hannover, CCNOA - Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art (Brussels), Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (Vienna), Sharjah Art Museum (United Arab Emirates), to mention a few.
Collaborations with the world of design and fashion include those with Flora Miranda for Cyber Crack 2020, a runway show held during Paris Fashion Week (2020), with BMW Japan for the Setouchi Triennale (2019), with Eider for the 2018/19 winter collection, with Kohlmaier Wien for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York and with Iris van Herpen in Milan (in 2018).
In 2020 she won the Aurélie Nemours prize.
