Lily van der Stokker

Parker Gallery is proud to present its second solo exhibition with the celebrated Dutch artist Lily van der Stokker. Known for her large-scale wall paintings and meticulously rendered drawings, this exhibition focuses on paintings on canvas, a more recent addition to the artist's oeuvre that expands upon the universal themes central to her practice, including genuine acts of human kindness and the charged imagery of seemingly benign subject matter.

Undergirding all of van der Stokker's work is a radically conceptual and personal approach to art making that centers femininity, joy, and otherwise mundane aspects of everyday life that are typically dismissed as frivolous. Her intentional use of soft fluorescent colors and youthful imagery, while sincere, is a cheeky nod towards Art's self-seriousness and a subversion of its expectations.

Flowers are the primary motif in the exhibition, and have been employed consistently throughout the artist's practice for over thirty years. Notably, each work includes a date range, distinguishing the year in which it was originally conceived—typically in the form of a drawing—and the subsequent year in which it was realized as a painting for exhibition, revealing the significance of the artist's personal archive as a tool for revisiting and revising important ideas.

Rendered in cheerful, flat color, several paintings depict an all-over floral pattern that encompasses the viewer's field of vision, accompanied by unique phrases that disrupt the immediacy of their saccharine backdrop. Two paintings, Dear Mommy and Every Sunday Visit Mother, feature text that evokes the warmth of maternal love and the importance of family rituals. In several other flower paintings, social niceties are observed and communicated, expressing thanks (Dankje wel Lieve Schat / Thank You Darling) and pleasantries (Good Morning, Good Afternoon).

In Can I be your friend, an amorphous cloud form featuring the artist's signature doodle border contains an intrusive thought, expressing regret and remorse at having said or done the wrong thing (I am so worried that I hurt you can I be your friend please). Vulnerable and straightforward, the text conveys feelings that are at the core of van der Stokker's emotionally probing work, addressing life's myriad complexities.

Lily van der Stokker (b. 1954, Hertogenbosch, Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam and New York City. Selected solo exhibitions include: Frac Normandie, Caen, France (2024); The High Line, New York (2023); Coda Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands (2023); kaufmann repetto, Milan (2022); Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2022); Camden Art Centre, London (2022); Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2019); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2018); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2015); New Museum, New York (2013); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2010); and Tate St. Ives (2010). Van der Stokker has undertaken two large-scale public commissions. In 2000 she created The Pink Building, for which she painted the entire exterior and roof of a building for the World's Fair in Hannover, Germany, and she designed a large ceramic teapot, Celestial Teapot, for the roof of a high-rise shopping centre in Utrecht, Netherlands, in 2013.