Statement
Chantal Pollier (°1965) is a visual artist who prefers to work in/with stone. ( besides wax, glass, drawings and photography) All her work contains references to temporality and transience. Many are rooted in science, with a particular interest in geology, biology, anatomy and morphology. The way in which collaborating artists and scientists can enter each other's territory, and the extent to which they can thereby add new dimensions to both their own work and that of their partners, leads her to fresh perspectives and further steps.
Fascinated by the persistent enthusiasm of the scientific world, she contacts scientists and is inspired by their research. The first contact was with the department of forensic medicine in Ghent, where she could examine a naturally mummified body. The series 'The Heart of the Matter’ shows the fragility of life: sculptures in stone and wax, hearts of different species, including humans. She witnessed the dissection on a cuttlefish, a mollusk with three hearts. She could study the heart of a human being on the Forensic pathology department of the University of Antwerp. At the Department of Morphology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Ghent she studied a five days old chicken embryo under the electron microscope, there was no better way for her to grasp the fragile beauty of the embryonic creature in the sculpture 'Quasar'." Further research and collaboration with other universities led to the creation of the work ‘Quasar/Morfogenesis’.
The skin acts like a protective barrier between a being and everything that exists outside that being. A vulnerable border, which through recognition simultaneously invokes empathy and the urge to cross an invisible border. Every living being has this barrier. Starting from the flesh, I seek the sculptural abstraction of the ‘skin bag’ in which we are, which is also a relegation of how we feel and thus a means of communication.
Again and again, she is captivated by the interesting tension between the futile facts of her memories and the magnificence of nature. She tries to rewrite her personal interpretations in a formal language where memories and markings appear on the surface – the skin – of her work.
Time is a strange thing. In nature time becomes almost meaningless, considering the history of the earth our time becomes minute. And in this minute time we must act, in kindness and beauty…
residencies and grants
For CV- word document please contact me.
Fascinated by the persistent enthusiasm of the scientific world, she contacts scientists and is inspired by their research. The first contact was with the department of forensic medicine in Ghent, where she could examine a naturally mummified body. The series 'The Heart of the Matter’ shows the fragility of life: sculptures in stone and wax, hearts of different species, including humans. She witnessed the dissection on a cuttlefish, a mollusk with three hearts. She could study the heart of a human being on the Forensic pathology department of the University of Antwerp. At the Department of Morphology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Ghent she studied a five days old chicken embryo under the electron microscope, there was no better way for her to grasp the fragile beauty of the embryonic creature in the sculpture 'Quasar'." Further research and collaboration with other universities led to the creation of the work ‘Quasar/Morfogenesis’.
The skin acts like a protective barrier between a being and everything that exists outside that being. A vulnerable border, which through recognition simultaneously invokes empathy and the urge to cross an invisible border. Every living being has this barrier. Starting from the flesh, I seek the sculptural abstraction of the ‘skin bag’ in which we are, which is also a relegation of how we feel and thus a means of communication.
Again and again, she is captivated by the interesting tension between the futile facts of her memories and the magnificence of nature. She tries to rewrite her personal interpretations in a formal language where memories and markings appear on the surface – the skin – of her work.
Time is a strange thing. In nature time becomes almost meaningless, considering the history of the earth our time becomes minute. And in this minute time we must act, in kindness and beauty…
residencies and grants
- 2023: Selected for a 3-Week residency in Southern Ireland, the Cill Rialaig art centre.
- 2019: selected for a 3-week residency on the island Comacina in the Como Lake, Italy. Supported and funded by the department of Art and Culture of Flanders.
- 2016: one-year residency on the department of Morphology of the veterinary faculty of the University of Ghent, Belgium.
- 2016: one-year grant by the department of Culture of Flanders, short term support for the artist.
For CV- word document please contact me.