Our Story
Renée Pfister brings over 20 years of experience in working in the museums and art world where she applied her MA in Museums and Gallery Management to academic and collections management roles. As part of the curatorial team at the British Museum she was involved in realising major projects such as the Great Court and the Weston Gallery of Roman Britain. At the Tate Gallery she worked as a Registrar and was responsible for managing acquisitions and groundbreaking International Programme exhibitions. During her time at Tate she participated in an exchange programme with the Museum of Modern Art, New York, working in the Office of Registrars. She joined Gander & White in 2006, as Associate Director for Museums & Galleries, and oversaw the strategic business development of Museum and Gallery department.
In 2009 she returned to the public sector and was employed at the Science Museum as Collection Manager where she managed the Collection Management team and approximately 200,000 objects. More recently she worked for the late Sir Anthony Caro as an Exhibition Strategist. Since 2010, she manages her own Art & Gallery Consultancy, and offers advice and services for international collectors, artists and museums. In addition, she lectures and delivers art related courses at City University, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and other UK institutions.
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The Power of Art #87 Nicole Polonsky ‘My Mother's Knitting Mistakes - - PR back, wrong stitches’
Nicole Polonsky prospects for latent meanings in apparently unremarkable objects and texts, and rearticulates them in surprising and thought-provoking ways. She works across print, drawing, installation, performance and film, and writes for publication. In collaboration with other creatives, Polonsky produces and curates events and exhibitions, notably scissorspaperstone artist’s book fair with University of the West of England, and A Pollock’s Gallimaufry at Pollock’s Toy Museum. Ghost [ed.], a suite of eight lithographs by eight artists devised by her with Sue Baker Kenton, was acquired by the V&A. Nicole’s work is held in public collections internationally and is included in Michael Petry’s survey of artists who use type, The Word is Art, published by Thames & Hudson.
My Mother's Knitting Mistakes - PR back, wrong stitches, belong to a collection of screen prints of errors identified in a garment knitted for the artist by her mother and fellow artist, Beata H Polonsky. The prints depict enlarged images of dropped stitches and incorrect tension and are informed by a reading of the garment as a metaphor for human frailty and resilience. In these and other works Polonsky reflects on interstitial and marginalised subjects as well as our limitations.
Image: My Mother's Knitting Mistakes - PR back, wrong stitches (cyan/yellow), 2022, constructed screen print, H760 mm x W560 mm x D5 mm
Courtesy and ©Nicole Polonsky, Matthew Booth, (photography) and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy.
THE FORT ROAD HOTEL - A NEW HOTEL IN MARGATE WITH CURATED ART DISPLAYS BY TOM GIDLEY !!
THE POWER OF ART #86 LEVI VAN VELUW ‘PLANETARY CHAPEL’ !!
Levi van Veluw is an interdisciplinary artist who works across sculpture, installation, drawing, photography and film. Over the years, he has developed a rich and unique visual language, inspired by cultures and belief systems from around the world. His oeuvre invites us to explore metaphysical spaces that seem familiar on the one hand and strange and otherworldly on the other hand, accentuated by specific colours.
Planetary Chapel is a kinetic work with an intricate wind-up mechanism that opens the doors of a casket, revealing a constellation of rotating golden spheres. Instantly, Galileo’s Law of Inertia or Motion comes to mind. From his experiments, he had learned a body in motion would remain in movement unless a force caused it to come to rest.
Van Veluw’s Planetary Chapel also makes a reference to medieval portable altars. The external coffer is immersed in magical blue, whereas the inner sanctum is of golden gleam, creating a spiritual and transcendent impression. Since it was mandatory to attend Mass in the Dark Ages, it was common practice that travelling altars aided the personal devotion of Christians at home or whilst being away.
Image and Video, Levi van Veluw, Planetary Chapel, 2021, polymer clay, metal mechanics H710 mm x W510 mm x D460 mm, edition of 3.
https://levivanveluw.com/work/beyond-matter-kinetic-video
Courtesy and ©Levi van Veluw, Rosenfeld Gallery and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy.
THOUGHTSCAPES - ARTIST IN FOCUS - MARIA TERESA ORTOLEVA - SEPTEMBER 2022 !!
Courtesy and ©Maria Teresa Ortoleva, Ben Sound (music)
https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/enigmatic
and Renée Pfister (text), with the assistance of Georgia McConnell, 2022. All rights reserved.
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THE POWER OF ART #85 ROSEMARY CLUNIE ‘NIGHT OF THE GOD-BIRD’!!
Rosemary Clunie’s “Night of the God-bird”, emerged during the first covid lockdown in 2020. It belongs to a wider cycle of small-scale works on paper. Without access to her studio, the artist adapted to working from home, using fast drying and low maintenance materials such as acrylic paint and paper.
Clunie depicts a large gold painted imaginary bird with outstretched wings on a mid-night-blue background. The aesthetic of gold paint used in sections of the artwork dates to techniques applied by byzantine craftsmen. Under the bird a human figure appears to kneel before it as if in prayer along with a giant golden egg, which symbolises fertility and growth. Sections of leaves and branches appear to grow from within the body of the bird and the red figure. The scene offers a sense of hope and optimism with its vibrant motifs shining against the dark background. Whereas the all-encompassing darkness conveys the wider societal fear experienced during the pandemic. Clunie describes how the panic and horror of the disease that was killing so many innocent people around the world, somehow made her reach deep down into a mythic symbolic layer of our shared consciousness, to a place of ancient resilience and vision of resurgence. She states: “The bird is phoenix-like, representing rebirth, its dynamic outstretched wings conjure a feeling of strength, and the golden egg acts a symbol of hope for the future”.
Image: Rosemary Clunie. Night of the God-bird, 2020, collage and acrylic on paper, H420 mm x W594 mm.
Courtesy and ©Rosemary Clunie and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2022.
TRULY SPOKEN !!
THE POWER OF ART #84 CECILIA BULLO, "I WAS ONCE A LIMINAL DAUGHTER' !!
With the sculpture I was once a Liminal Daughter, Cecilia Bullo conveys the subject of sacrifice. A bronze leporine lies on a stainless-steel surgical table, with porcelain aloe vera plants spilling out of its inside, spreading and migrating across the table and room. Bullo explains that in mythology, the leporine symbolises the woman, and the operating table represents a sacrificial altar. The position of the female on the steel plinth denotes women’s struggles against femicide, gender violence, and desertion - she lies limp and abandoned.
Bullo included Sertraline, an antidepressant, and aloe vera extract in her choice of materials, neither evidently visible. Their hiddenness draws attention to the unseen pain, experience and woman who paid dearly for the imbalances in her life. Despite the sense of utter desolation conveyed by the subject, the materials suggest otherwise. The hare is made in bronze, a durable and resistant metal, which suggests a sense of strength, along with the contrasts between the colours silver, white, and bronze, capturing an ethereal beauty.
Cecilia Bullo, I was once a Liminal Daughter', 2021, bronze, stainless steel, porcelain, hardware, Sertraline & Aloe Vera extract, medical shunts.
Courtesy of Cecilia Bullo, Aoife Herrity (photography), Bleach Those Tongues: Dystopian Assemblages, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, IRL and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy.
THE POWER OF ART #83 JEFF LOWE ‘QUEEN’ !!
Jeff Lowe’s work has often been described as one of contrasts. His early work reminds one of geometric architectural structures, appearing visually dense and resistant. Since moving into The Limeworks, a conical shaped house, in Kent, in 2017, circular forms have dominated his more recent work.
Queen differs from his early sculptures. It is organic and curvilinear in form, light in both its appearance and material. The cut-out holes in the aluminium are soft in their shape and function as gentle windows into the heart of the sculpture. Queen belongs to his series Sculpture Near Distance, made for Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden, in Yorkshire.
Lowe describes his process of making sculptures as “more like a collage than construction.” In a video that accompanies his exhibition, Lowe can be seen in his studio, rolling out aluminium sheets like soft dough. The sculpture fabrication is spontaneous, and his artistic eye responds to how each piece fits together.
Queen is a malleable sculpture; malleable in the way it was constructed, but also malleable to its surroundings. The aluminium edges fold around one another like arms cradling a secret, enticing the viewer to walk around the sculpture in a circular motion, interacting with its playfulness, and reflect and respond to its settings.
Image: Jeff Lowe, Queen, 2022, painted aluminium,
320 x 204.5 x 201 cm.
Courtesy and ©Jeff Lowe, Paul Murphy (photography), Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2022.
Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden, Sculpture Near Distance curated by Jon Wood, until 13 May 2023.
SOON IN YOUR MOVIE THEATRE !!
FAMILY OF DECEIT !!
POWER OF ART #82 'STEPHANIE SMART SYMPHONY OF STARS’ !!
Today we present Stephanie Smart work, Symphony of Stars - the train of a court dress, commissioned for the Music Room at The Royal Pavilion, Brighton. Smart’s stunning new gown includes stars made from paper quilling which are placed around its border in lieu of the notes of Symphony no. 8 in C minor by British composer and astronomer William Herschel; 2022 as we celebrate the bicentennial of his birth.
The Regency Wardrobe collection, of which this dress is a part, is formed of twelve garments and twelve accessories all made entirely from paper and thread. It includes a full naval officer's uniform, a Ball gown, walking dresses, parasols and a jewellery box. The collection is currently on show split between the Royal Pavilion until 11 September 2022 and Worthing Museum until 7 August 2022.
Image: Stephanie Smart, Symphony of Stars, 2022, H1390 mm x 1310 mm.
Courtesy and ©Stephanie Smart and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, 2022.
For more details see: stephaniesmart.net
