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