It’s hard not to feel at ease looking at a Lily Van Der Stokker painting or installation—those bubble-font flowers, those baby blues and happy oranges. The Dutch artist creates candy-colored scenes out of a preschool or Barbie’s Dream House: simple and sweet. In fact, Van Der Stokker’s work has been described as “so sweet it can kill.” She would agree. By pushing themes of femininity and domesticity to the point of absurdity, Van Der Stokker asks provocative questions about what it means to be a woman. She let’s you see the real, the mundane, the small. “If I make an artwork about family problems, administrative tasks or the common flu, it might not seem so revolutionary,” Van Der Stokker reflects. “But I’m bringing in a whole spectrum of new subject matter that is normally absent in art.” —Clara Molot