Saskia Pfaeltzer – Works, curriculum vitae, publications

Saskia Pfaeltzer Nassaukade 126 NL ‐ 1052 ED Amsterdam, Netherlands

pfaelt@xs4all.nl

+31 6 54 90 81 96

saskiapfaeltzer.nl

Other works by Saskia Pfaeltzer (selection):

Always looking for new ways

In my career as a visual artist I have explored many materials: clay, bronze, plaster, wood, waste materials, metal, cardboard, paper, drawing materials and porcelain. I try to achieve surprising new results with unexpected combinations of materials.

Since my visits to the porcelain workshops in China, I have become very interested in the possibilities of this refined material. Jingdezhen is well known to me because of the two‐ month working periods that I have spent there annually for the past 15 years, both at San Bao and at The Pottery Work Shop.

With my next stay in Jingdezhen this autumn I want to continue my experiments with different materials, together with porcelain and glaze. What makes working with porcelain particularly interesting is that this material pre‐eminently allows me to bring together my drawings and sculptures.

My aim is to surprise myself and others every day again with my work. Therefore I have to work as if I am breathing, constantly making lively things.

Biography

Saskia Pfaeltzer (Hilversum, 1955) was educated as a sculptor and painter at the

Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Academy of Arts) in Amsterdam (1973‐1980), at the faculty of sculpture under the direction of Piet Esser, Paul Grégoire and Theresia van der Pant, and at the faculty of monumental painting under the direction of Harry op de Laak. She also studied modern dance at Huize de Liefde in Amsterdam.

She immediately turned out to be a successful artist and her work appears in important collections in the Netherlands and the Caribbean. Large sculptures were commissioned by various Dutch towns, to decorate their public spaces, like Helmond and Geldermalsen. Unilever Rotterdam and ING Bank are some of the many companies proudly displaying

a large sculpture in bronze, created especially for them. Major art fairs like PAN, KunstRAI and Realismebeurs, all in Amsterdam, and Art Fair 's‐Hertogenbosch show her work

on a regular basis. ARTCologne, Lapada Art Fair, and London Art Fair are outposts abroad.

Saskia's choice is not to be presented by one main gallery, but exhibiting her

work in an almost continuous series of exhibitions throughout the Netherlands and abroad. Saskia lives in Amsterdam, with a 1O‐year break in the Caribbean: from 1990 to 2005 she stayed on Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius. The influence of the Antillean way of life is clearly reflected in her work. Dividing her time between an urban atelier in Amsterdam's

centre and nowadays a large atelier in the countryside of France, she keeps looking at art from different angles.

Since 2010, she has been working two months a year in Jingdezhen, China, on a collection of ceramic statues, vases, pillars and plates. It gives her a new perspective and successfully so,

as the Chinese have asked her to return as a teacher in an art they themselves master like no one else: ceramics.

The atmosphere in her work lies on the border between theatre and visual art. In Pfaeltzer's world, a subreality of alter egos merges with the movements of animals and people. Kings and queens float in a dream state, where seriousness expresses itself in still forms. Here, the inner world is not simply shown, but revealed as a landscape of hidden emotions and whispering thoughts. Every movement, however small, carries a meaning — a vibration of an inner truth. The frozen postures of figures tell stories that cannot be captured in words. Animals creep like shadows through these still scenes, as carriers of instinct and subconscious power. It is a world in which time slows down and in which the inner unfolds as a tableau of desires, fears and dreams.

Galleries ‐ exhibitions and work in stock, in the Netherlands, unless otherwise stated 

(selection)

Gallery De Twee Pauwen, The Hague

Musiom, Amersfoort

Gallery Delfi Form, Zwolle

Gallery Helga Hofman, Alphen aan den Rijn

Gallery and sculpture garden Giardino, Berg en Terblijt Sanbao Gallery, Jingdezhen, China

Gallery A‐Quadraat, Vorden (2013‐2020)

Gallery Terra Delft, Delft

Tree Art Museum, Beijing, China (2016)

Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, Germany (2016‐2019) Gallery de Vis, Harlingen

Gallery Astrid Cornelisse, Amsterdam

SBK Kranenburgh, Bergen NH

SBK Kunstuitleen, Amsterdam

L'Abbaye de Saint‐Michel, Saint‐Michel, France

Dutch Dream Team Amsterdam (2012‐2017)

Mufei Gallery, Jingdezhen, China

KiV Château St. Gerlach, Valkenburg

Projects

Miffy art parade, various locations in the Netherlands and Japan (2015) Elephants Parade, global, various locations (2017)

Cardboard theatre, with singing, Amsterdam, Aalsmeer, France and Belgium Metamorphoses I, II, III, singing performances with cardboard wings (2015‐2017) Project Beethoven, singing performance with cardboard wings (2020‐2021) Fayza and the Nutcracker, street theatre, Arnhem (2021)

Radio Podcast BNN VARA #55 ‐ St. Eustatius: forgotten Dutch pearl in the Caribbean (July 4, 2021), Sinan's Atlas

Memories to Majiayao I, Chinese singing with cardboard samurai warrior on horseback, Halle, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium (2022)

Memories to Majiayao II, Chinese singing with cardboard samurai warrior on horseback, Nieuwe Kerk, Delft (Gallery Terra Delft) (2022)

Barbe Bleue, 8 songs in the cardboard theatre, Théâtre Montbessier, La Meyze, France (2023)

Artworks in museum and corporate collections

• Birdman, bronze, Willem Arntsz Hoeve, Den Dolder

• Minuets, bronze, Dutch Journal of Medicine, Amsterdam

• Two sphinxes, bronze, Oranje Nassau Vastgoed, Diemen

• Caribbean Bather, bronze, ING Bank, Amsterdam

• Acrobat, bronze, HSBC, Van Meer James Capel, Amsterdam

• Witches' Sabbath, bronze, Museum Jan Cunen, Oss

• Le Dauphin, bronze, Capgemini, Utrecht

• The Far Journey, bronze, and Dancers, bronze, Unilever, Rotterdam

• Cloud Chaser, bronze, market square in Helmond

• Reclining Man, bronze, Rabobank, Amsterdam

• Merdía, oil on canvas, government building, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

• Caribbean Head, bronze, and Birdman III, bronze, Museum Kura Hulanda, Willemstad, Curaçao

• Birdman II, bronze, Aon Group Netherlands, Rotterdam

• Heracles, Cats, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas, cardboard, wings for major dance shows, Sint Maarten (2000‐2010)

• Capoeira, bronze, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Vladivostok, Russia

Artworks in public space

• Brooches, various wall paintings, Sister Marie Laurence School, Sint Maarten

• Three Torsos, bronze, Vineyard Building, Sint Maarten

• Minuet III, bronze, Geldermalsen

• Five Pelicans, epoxy resin, Princess Juliana International Airport, Sint Maarten

• Three Fates, bronze, Steensel

• Waterman, bronze, fountain, Boscotondo‐plein, Helmond

• Three Dancers, bronze, Motiance Dance School, Sint Maarten

• La Lambada II, bronze, Wickelhof, Mijdrecht

• Ayer, oil on canvas, Motiance Dance School, Sint Maarten

• Contemporaries, (temporary) cardboard project, Hugo de Grootkade/Bilderdijkpark, Amsterdam

• Contemporaries, wall painting, 14 x 3.5 meters (large edition), Frederik Hendrikstraat, Amsterdam

• Hephaistos, bronze (edition 15), Afval Energie Bedrijf Amsterdam

• Birdman, bronze (edition 100), Helmond Environmental Prize

• Minuet, bronze (edition 200), Netherlands Institute of Medicine, Amsterdam

• Karate, bronze (edition 60), Royal BAM Group

• Merengue I, bronze (edition 250), Stichting Ondernemende Kunstenaars, Amsterdam

• The Human Scale, bronze plaque (edition 100), Alsemgeest & Westerwoudt Architects, Rotterdam

• Frigate Bird, bronze, Heineken Fishing Tournament prize, Sint Maarten

• Man on Bench, bronze (edition 30), Rabobank

• La Balance, bronze (edition 100), Jan van Goyen Medical Center, Amsterdam

• Equilibre, bronze (edition 30), Motiance Dance School, Sint Maarten

• Watchman, bronze (edition 25), International Card Services/ABN Amro Bank

Art fairs

• KunstRAI (2004‐present)

• PAN Amsterdam (2004)

• Art Antwerp (2004)

• ART COLOGNE (2006)

• London Art Fair (2012)

• Realism Amsterdam (2015‐present)

• Art Breda (2015‐2016)

• Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam (2019)

Didactic experience

• Various art academies in the Netherlands, France and the Dutch Caribbean (1991‐2012)

• Jingdezhen Ceramic Art Institute (JCAI), China (2013)

Publications

• Color St. Maarten then and now, with Maria van Enckevort, University of St. Martin Press

• My Stay on St. Eustatius, self‐published (2010)

• My Stay in China 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, self‐published, 2010‐2016

• Out of the Groove (China), self‐published (2017)

• Get Rid of the Routine!, with Sophie de Wijn, Scrivare publishers

• Spinoza's Roller Coaster, graphic novel, with Erik Bindervoet, Wereldbibliotheek (2014)

• The Philosophers Colouring Book, Wereldbibliotheek (2017)

• Thus Spoke Nietzsche's Sister, graphic novel, with Erik Bindervoet, Wereldbibliotheek (2019)

• Philosophers Beyond Borders, graphic novel, ASC publishers Leiden (2020)

• Gutmensch Block‐calender, Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas (2020 – 2023) www.gutmensch.org

• Wittgenstein's World, graphic novel, with Erik Bindervoet, Wereldbibliotheek (2022)

• The Future of the Amazon Forest, graphic novel, with Pitou van Dijck, LM Publishers (2023)

The creation and meaning of the Two Pillars – by Saskia Pfaeltzer

The Gate of Chinese Porcelain, the white gold

Just under Shanghai, a good hour's flight away, lies Jingdezhen, the porcelain city: City of White Gold. For centuries, the most beautiful porcelain was made here and distributed all over the world. During one of my two‐month working periods, I made The Gate Double, two and a half meter high, crowned porcelain pillars on sculpted wooden plinths.

To make the pillars, I cycle to the outskirts of Jingdezhen, to the large vase factory, with a backpack full of ceramic paint, buckets, brushes, water and bread. Since the seventeenth century, large porcelain vases have been made here for transport to Amsterdam.

Around each pillar, I paint a representation with the same cobalt that was already used in the seventeenth century. I have to warm up, as if for a competition, because painting the pillars in blue and white has to be done in one go.

Each pillar has a narrator, who explains the world. One pillar shows a woman with a falcon on her arm, with two hunting dogs on either side. Her world is one of high mountains, vast fields and wild seas. Vehicles drive over bridges from which acrobats hang. On her head she carries a modern city. On top of the skyscrapers, open spaces have been left to let the

breath of life, the 'qi', flow freely.

The other pillar shows a landowner with two cheetahs on a leash, an owl sitting on his hand. His landscape is a valley with deserts. The city he carries is his future, his dream. Both figures look at the viewer. There is something distant about them; after all, they are the guards of

their gate. But they invite you to enter the uncertain land behind the gate. Once through the gate, a new world is yours.

Saskia Pfaeltzer

By Kees Versluis

An energetic woman with expansive gestures, clear eyes, a warm, hearty laugh and a head of unruly curls. An artist from top to toe, who has lived a tumultuous life in which the search for challenges has been the leitmotif of all her activities. From art academy to artists collectives, from Amsterdam to St. Maarten and China, from bronze to clay and polystyrene foam. An extraordinary chameleon, who seems to be able to effortlessly adjust to the demands of the time and place, but above all to her own aspirations. ''I have to continue to surprise myself; for me, that's the key to remaining energetic and continuing to derive real pleasure from what I’m doing.'' Anyone who regularly passes by Saskia's atelier, located in a former shop on the Nassaukade in Amsterdam, will see a new work of art in the window every month. Chinese men cut out of cardboard, wild tigers drawn in charcoal ‐ you never know what to expect, as Saskia produces a huge quantity of work, and likes to assign a

'best‐by' date to her art. ''I'm not going to wait for ages until someone likes it. After a while, the deadline is past, and then it has to go. I'm always greatly relieved when I can transport half of the work in my atelier to galleries, or when I can lend a large portion of my artworks to exhibitions. And sometimes it can just end up in the trash bin. That helps me 'unclutter', and gives me peace of mind and room in my head for new things."

Inspiration and mentality

This 'room in Saskia's head' is a breeding ground for inspiration, which she finds in the people, animals and things in her surroundings. She observes and registers. everything that inspires her, and processes these impressions at a later moment to create tangible artworks. Her productivity is immense. ''It's a question of energy and mentality. I've taught myself that you just always have to be making something, even if you don't have any great inspiration at the moment. You have to begin, to make quick decisions, and if it doesn't work out, you'll see that, of course. And very often, it turns out all right after all.'' This is how the sheep's heads and bird's heads ‐ which at this moment fill her atelier ‐ came into being. ''A while back I happened to see a cockatoo, became fascinated by the animal, and decided to make one in stone. Before I knew it, I was obsessed with these animals, and that's where I am at the moment, in the middle of that process. They're fantastic to make; it makes me happy just looking at them.''

Dancers and rubbish

This 'animal phase' is the latest in the many phases in Saskia's oeuvre which ‐ at times connected with each other and at times completely separate ‐ characterise her work. ''After my application to the dance academy had been rejected, I concentrated mostly on creating images of dancers, which I continued doing for years. I was even able to create huge bronze sculptures of dancers, which now stand in city squares in Helmond and Steensel. Those were fantastic assignments.'' But this was no reason for Saskia to choose the safe route and follow the beaten path, and just build further on these successes in the Netherlands. She received an invitation to go work in the Netherlands Antilles for six months, and didn't hesitate for one moment. ''I didn’t want to say 'no'. Saying 'yes' is always so much more interesting! It offers new opportunities, opens doors, and helps channel my work into new areas of exploration.'' So Saskia went off to St. Maarten, where, contrary to all expectations, she ended up living for 12 years, without a real atelier or studio, and with limited materials. ''My crate with art materials and tools never arrived from Amsterdam. I went to a rubbish dump and worked in the open air in an old ruin, making artworks from refuse materials. My most enjoyable exhibition ever!''

Freedom

Her stay in the Dutch Antilles was a long, stormy period, in which she encountered loneliness and more than once the destructive power of hurricanes. Nevertheless, her art dating from this period is characterised by sunny, colourful Antillean influences. Back in the Netherlands, Saskia realised more deeply than ever the way in which she had to continue to evolve as an artist. ''In the Antilles I learned a great deal. There, I had to protect my existence as an artist, I had to struggle to be seen, without any network or safety net. No one asks anything about what you are doing, so I became my own critic. I made demands on myself, telling myself that I must create something new every week; I ended up amazing myself with the results.'' These experiences have made Saskia the strongly persuasive and independent artist that she is today, and one of the few who can experience freedom in the limited opportunities of the current economic crisis. ''The crisis has given me a lot of freedom; people are investing less and less in works of art, so now I can make whatever I want. I must find the energy within myself, and I can create surprising things, perhaps work that nobody will like or find beautiful. I have never felt so free in what I am creating, I am now truly just being myself.''

Chinese porcelain

This urge to be free and to continue to surprise herself led Saskia to China in 2010. ''All around me, artists were desperately throwing themselves into

teaching, or just giving up. I absolutely didn't want to do either of that, so I decided to re‐invent myself once more. A new country, new materials, new inspiration. It was a fantastic experience: I had never worked with clay before! I began with a basic course in ceramics, and then went to the porcelain region in China (Jingdezhen, Jiangxi) for three months. I had no idea at all where I would end up, but became fascinated by the people and the country, and by now I have returned to China many times. At present I am even learning Chinese!''

Self‐willed and independent

With her energy, sense of perspective and a healthy portion of recklessness, Saskia is an artist who is prepared for the future. She is someone who, with her fresh outlook on the world around her, will continue to inspire others for years to come. ''I would also like to try glass blowing, perhaps take another course or travel to Africa for an extended stay. I will never 'slow down' and take it easy; I want to continue developing myself. What other people think of my art is secondary. That's freedom; that's the way I want to live my life as an artist.''