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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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No more living in a ghost town
When the specials wrote their song ‘ghost town’ Coventry was a city in recessional decline, industry failing, shops boarded up and a general air of hopelessness. This time round with the credit crunch upon us and once again hitting recession, Coventry Art space and Coventry city council are trying hard to ensure that boarded up shops will not be a feature this time.
“No more Ghost town” say Shiam Wilcox and Frieda Van de Poll, two Artists currently working in one of the empty shop spaces given over to them to develop their current project which will later lead to an exhibition of their work.
Frieda and Shiam’s work, a mixture of ceramics, knitting and recycled materials, sits in contrast to the rest of the shop displays in the city arcade but also reflects the diversity of the shopping area. The project ‘Ladies of science’ feature Shiam and Frieda acting out the parts of two Victorian women scientists. The work produced is a strange chimera of fauna and flora with sinister undertones. An experimental laboratory of unusual specimens. The project is based around the fact that it was very much frowned upon for women to be any other form of scientist than Botanists, this was considered the feminine science and Frieda and Shiam have taken this to the extreme. They play on notions such as vitalism (bringing the dead to life through electricity), taxidermy and anatomical creations. Anything in fact about the Victorian scientific underground..
“This space has been a fantastic opportunity to enable us to develop work in partnership” Said Shiam. “We are also able to engage feely with the public, who often stop to look through he window and come in to ask us questions about the work”. “It is a great way to see what reaction to the project there is as we produce work and start filling the shop space. As soon as we finish a sculpture we put it straight on show. People often watch to see how a sculpture is coming along and how they develop” Said Frieda.
So far reactions have been positive not only to the work but also to the shop scheme itself. Shop keepers would rather have Artists next to them than empty boarded up shop units.
Coventry Arts space and Coventry city council have several shop spaces available. These can be applied for through an online application. “Frieda and Shiam were the successful applicants for our first round of Art space bursary awards, so it seemed the appropriate idea to offer them a shop space to develop their ideas” said Laura Arts coordinator of Coventry Art space.
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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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