BIOGRAPHY
TANYA POOLE
(b. 1971, St John’s, Canada)
Tanya Poole was born in St John’s, Newfoundland, and grew up in Bahrain, England and South Africa. She graduated with an MFA from Rhodes University in 1998. Trained primarily as a painter, Poole has also worked with video, performance, installation, theatre design and paint animation. She made her solo debut in 1996 at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Makhanda, followed by solo exhibitions in South Africa and Germany.
In 2001 she began experimenting with combining traditional painting and video in the medium of animated painting, a technique ideally suited to the concepts she was exploring at the time. She produced the work that earned her the joint First Prize in the 2004 Brett Kebble Art Awards. She was also awarded the Eastern Cape Premier’s Award for her contribution towards art in the Eastern Cape.
Tanya Poole currently combines a variety of media in her multimedia and conceptual works that focuses on social groups, individuals and relationships. A significant part of her oeuvre consists of large-format paintings with ink, which are unique in their size, their use of coincidence and at the same time masterly control of the medium. The monumental works evoke a fascinating spatial impression that lets the viewer immerse themselves in the motif in a special way.
Exhibitions abroad include: Collection of South African Art at the Chicago Institute and the South African Embassy, USA (1996); Three Women at the Mattamondo Gallery, London (2000); Possibilities (curated by the Bell-Roberts Gallery) in Mumbai, India (2007); Juncture: New Paintings from South Africa at the Artspace, Linienstrasse, Berlin, Germany (2010); and Mullinspoole (with Nigel Mullins) in Liemen, Germany in 2011.
Poole was the Head of the Section for Painting in the Fine Art Department of the Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa. She is currently based in the Département Deux-Sèvres, France.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
The Night Guide, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2020
Against Interpretation, Everard Read, London, UK
2019
Ancient Codes, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2018
The Whispering Spring, Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
2017
The Island, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2015
Thozama & Rose, Galerie m, Bochum, Germany
2014
The Becoming Child, Underculture Contemporary, Port Elizabeth; and Liebrecht Gallery, Somerset West, South Africa
2010
Juncture: New Paintings from South Africa, with solos by Nigel Mullins and Luan Nel, Artspace, Linienstrasse, Berlin, Germany
Last One Standing, Artspace, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007
Drift, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2005
Missing, Franchise Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2000
Inner Site Violence (with concept collaborator Clare Keenan), Makhanda Bedtime Stories, Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
1999
Inner Site Violence, St James, Cape Town; and Millennium Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa
1998
Limnetic Zone (with photographs by Angela Lazaro), Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Makhanda, South Africa
Exhibition in Three Parts: Masters degree submission, including paintings, video installations and performance art, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa
1996
Behind the Green Door, Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Makhanda, South Africa
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2021
Grenzfälle des Raumes, Galerie m, Germany
2020
on paper - on colour, KunstRaum, Duisburg, Germany
Us, Everard Read (online), South Africa & UK
2019
Galerie m | 3. Mai 1969 - 3. Mai 2019, Germany
2009
x2, Albany History Museum, Makhanda, South Africa
To Those Lost, Albany History Museum, Makhanda, South Africa
2008
Between Meaning and Matter, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Hollywood, Nollywood, Bollywood, World Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007
Greenhouse: from painting to plastic, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Lourensford, South Africa
Possibilities, SA Tourism, Mumbai, India
2005
Bell-Roberts and Gallery Momo Summer Show, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
New Painting, National South African Gallery, Durban; UNISA Gallery, Pretoria; National Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
About Face, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn & Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2004
Brett Kebble Art Awards, CT International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
2003
Brett Kebble Art Awards, CT International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
Four Play, Cuyler Street Gallery, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Console, Grahamstown National Arts FestivalMakhanda, South Africa
2002
Rebellion and Uproar: The Escape From Robben Island of Makana and the Eastern Frontier Rebels, 1820, Nelson Mandela Gateway Complex, Robben Island Museum, Cape Town; 1820 Museum, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, South Africa; Reykjavik, Iceland
2000
Three Women, Mattamondo Gallery, Notting Hill, London, UK
1999
Soft Serve, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
1996
Collection of South African Art, The Chicago Institute and the South African Embassy, USA