Primarily a printmaker, Pole captured the attention of many in the art word with her personal yet universal subject matter and unconventional approach to the printmaking process.
The artist presented simplified forms such as dresses, suitcases, bicycles and aeroplanes in complex spatial relationships in previous bodies of work.
In this exhibition, Pole added an entirely new suite of symbols, including foxes, wolves and bears; images drawn from French fairytales that she became familiar with when she read them to her two children while living in Paris, France.
“Children in South Africa don’t really know about wolves, but they hear about them in fairytales,” she said.
“So the wolf has become a veritable bogeyman for them.”
Pole was born in 1974 in Benoni, and studied at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, where she obtained a fine arts honours degree in 1996.
In 2002, she graduated from the L’Ecole Superieure Estienne in Paris, with a mention of excellence in her work.
The artist will conduct a children’s workshop on 15 February at the gallery, at 10am.
Fables & Other Stories is at Gallery AOP, 44 Stanley Avenue, Milpark, until 22 February.
Details: 011 726 2234; www.galleryaop.com
