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Frieda van de Poll
Press Release
Animal Spirits
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Frieda van de Poll. It is inhabited by, amongst others, creatures made of ceramics and knitting. Animal Spirits, a selling exhibition, shows Van de Poll’s objects in the company of her landscape paintings.
Frieda van de Poll works in the medieval tradition of making composites, combining dream and reality. Some of the unusual objects are reminiscent of Bosch’s creatures from hell. There is Mr Fortune who moves on the archetypal wheel of fortune that is usually associated with fertility and Lady Fortuna. He reminds us that anything can happen in life: one day you will wake up and find you have changed sex! His companion, Miss Panic, is derived from the god Pan, a very masculine being, who roams the woods and jumps at stray humans, scaring them into a panic.
The surrealistic theme is also elaborated in the other works on display. Van de Poll’s paintings and drawings, comprising magical and mystical creations, accentuate the amusing, thrilling and stimulating experience provided by her cast of curious characters. A fine example is the painting of the Indian God Ganesha who finds himself sitting in an Italianate landscape with the apple of Eve in his hands.
All canvasses are stretched by the artist and painted with her own professionally made mixture of pigments and binder (water based and permanent). She received her training in the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, her home town and is one of the co-founders and directors of Dimensions, a group of women ceramists. She is also a member of Coventry Artists Network and of Coventry Artspace.
During the last two years Frieda van de Poll has established herself as an artist and teacher on the arts scene in the Midlands. Van de Poll has had solo and group exhibitions in the Netherlands (Haarlem, Amsterdam) and in the UK (Oxford, Coventry, Leamington Spa). She has received commissions from several countries, for private houses and individuals, notably her colourful depictions and interpretations of the animals featured in the Chinese Year Signs.
In addition to her creative work, Van de Poll teaches Fine Art courses in the School of Lifelong Learning at Coventry University; with the Adult Education Service in Coventry and also offers private classes.
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Art Statement
Some years after I had finished my Masters in Theology and Philosophy, and having worked for a considerable amount of years as a journalist, I decided to go and study the Fine Arts. I had had enough of following other people's orders. And I wanted to create something rather than spend my life contemplating.
To put it in philosophical words: I want to pursue the course of form, to arrive into the realm of the imagination. It is my aim to invite the spectator on that journey.
Visual art should express life in my opinion. It should immerse itself in its emotions and it should have something to say. That is why I make use of legends and myths. They supply my artwork with witty and playful clues. At the same time they provide me with an often terrifying representation of reality, which I find very useful because life can indeed be horrifying. Underneath every cheerful image I create the viewer may perceive disconcerting elements rather like a fairy tale.
The themes I deal with are vulnerability, dreams, aggression fears. Through those I would like to comment on the fun-fair the Western world has become, without moralising. The surrealistic way of expression helps me doing just that.As a sculptor I make creatures in the medieval tradition of composites, in an original combination of ceramics and knitting. They are reminiscent of Boschs creatures from hell.
Painting however is my main medium. I mix my own paint and apply it on unprepared canvas to enhance transparency. Using light and colour, I create an open space in my landscapes. The animals that live there invite you into the painting. Feel welcome to do your own trekking...
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The Madonnas
Solo exhibition Glass Gallery
Coventry, 09/05/04 - 15/5/04
The series of paintings called ‘The Seven Madonnas’ by Frieda van de Poll depicts a variety of female figures. All are reminiscent of some icon of womanhood. Since the Madonna is the epitome of this archetype in western culture, she features four times in the series in various settings and guises: as Stella Maris, The Star of the Sea, she protects;Black Madonna represents the sorrowful Mother that weeps for humanity; Donna wears the mask that plays the role of womanhood; Mona, ascending into heaven, speaks on our behalf.
All these women are linked through the Mother Goddess, who is more ancient than the Christian Mother of God. She appears in all religions and cultures. Venus is the maiden of innocent love; Durga the Indian Goddess of Wrath who is ‘beyond reach’ and cannot be conquered. Coventry’s good Lady Godiva rides her horse to fertilize the land. Each one of the Madonnas is doing something unexpected, something unheard of; the story of womanhood is always repeated and ever changing.
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