Polly Shindler

Polly Shindler is an American multidisciplinary artist. She studied at Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, where she graduated with a degree in painting in 2011. Since graduating, she has exhibited in the United States, as well as in Madrid and London.

In her paintings, she explores inhabited spaces: interiors with furniture from different periods, fabrics with colorful patterns, floors with different textures. Here the spaces are usually empty of people and at the same time breathe a sense of human occupation. In her own words, “when I begin a painting, my attention is focused on the design of both the physical space as well as that of the painting. I create a situation on canvas by using paint to convey the idea or symbol of a room/scene/landscape. The spaces I depict are imagined and sourced from images found both in the real and digital world. My interest in creating these rooms grew first from an investigation of solitude and retreat, and then to a narrower focus on composition and more formal concepts. I consider color, pattern and texture in an architectural and art historical context when creating each work. These decisions dictate the feeling and atmosphere of the space. In my work there is a fine line to be drawn between realism and design”.