MUNICIPAL MUSEUM SCHIEDAM 2011, ENTRY BY ARNO KRAMER
No drawing by Sarah van der Pols is without a human figure. She seems to wish to capture everything that actually does not allow itself to be drawn within the contours of the physique, such as the thought process, emotional experiences and suchlike.
In the application of often-linear actions with pen, pencil, pigment ink etc., she finds a way to represent these.
In applying the elusive soot that falls onto the paper, the mental and metaphysical character of the work is reinforced. Due to the wealth of applied materials, drawn structures and shading, the drawings display a high degree of abstraction despite their encapsulation within the human figure. As a consequence of the repetition of certain forms, whether explicit or not, the notion that an individual could never survive on his or her own in this world soon becomes obvious.
The shapes suggest motion, of getting up, of dancing, perhaps even of wishing to escape from the inner world that initially appeared to have everything under control.
The individual retreats into himself and cherishes his feelings and thoughts.
The drawings have become their own territory. They are metamorphoses, substantiations of the unthinkable, captured in an image. They are searching but they have also been found.
It is work that feels at home in its own yearning.
By drawing her ideas in this way, Sarah van der Pols creates a different consciousness.
As well as exemplifying the conversation of the vulnerable and the emotional into a substantial image, her work is the visualization of the power of humanity and of its capacity to generate an own form and image. It is clear that the anxiety, the yearning, the beauty, the spiritual wealth evident in the drawings of Sarah van der Pols are represented in a generic way at an almost universal level. In that sense, the characters are symbols of humanity in general.