'Freya Pocklington is interested in notions of self-contained worlds, from the state-of-nature theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the constructed dystopia of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) and music videos such as Wiley’s Rolex (2008). The artist’s Conté crayon drawings, animations and videos, present a dark bestiary in which the unexpected is the norm. As human stand-ins, Pocklington’s pooches are a ragbag affair: they are underdogs, but also over-dogs, empathetic but also merciless and inhumane. Some of the dogs appear to be merrymaking, others simply idle away their time in surreal isolation – a recurring motif is the beast trapped inside a bell jar, an image that recalls ideas of archive, preservation and airless museology. There have, of course, been numerous presentations of canines in fiction as moral fables: think of Argos, the faithful lead in Homer’s Odyssey who recognises the true hero upon his return; Buck, the protagonist of Jack London’s Call of the Wild (1903) who discovers his natural freedom; and Mikhail Bulgakov’s dismal proletarian antihero in Heart of a Dog (1925). In Pocklington’s art, dogs are somewhat different: they are freighted with the symbolic load of fable, but the message is left deliberately, potently, ambiguous.’
Colin Perry, 2011
Florence Trust Catalogue
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| Qualifications and training |
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| 2009 |
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MA Drawing, Wimbledon College of Art, London |
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| 2006 |
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BA Fine Art (First Class), Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh |
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| Selected Exhibitions |
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| 2011 |
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Twenty-Five of One, KK Outlet, London |
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Summer Exhibition, The Florence Trust, London |
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Curated & Exhibited: Fly Fitness, MA Project Space, Wimbledon College of Art, London |
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Open Studios, The Florence Trust, London |
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Tutors Sketchbooks, West Dean College, West Sussex |
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| 2010 |
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Curated & Exhibited: Drawing Artists, West Dean College, West Sussex |
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Minas Installation, Art Amsterdam with Galerie Ramakers, Amsterdam |
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Solo Show: Drawing on the Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral, West Sussex |
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Drawing into Imagination, UCMK Gallery, Milton Keynes |
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| 2009 |
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Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary, Mall Galleries, London |
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Group show, Deutsche Postbank, London |
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Curated & Exhibited: Intersections, The Nunnery, London |
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| 2008 |
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Group show, Deutsche Postbank, London |
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Open Exhibition, Creative Industries, Manchester |
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Jerwood Drawing Prize 2008, Jerwood Space & Touring, London |
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| 2007 |
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Solo Show: Drawings and Stories, Convento São Francisco de Mértola, Portugal |
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Mental Image, Project Ability, Glasgow |
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181st Annual Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh |
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The Drawing Gallery, London |
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| 2006 |
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Visual Arts Scotland, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh |
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Annual Student Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh |
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Curated & Exhibited: Book, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh |
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| 2005 |
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Open Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh |
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| Residencies |
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| 2011 |
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Wimbledon College of Art Alumni Residency |
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The Florence Trust Studios |
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| 2010 |
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Chichester Cathedral and West Dean College |
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| 2007 |
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Scottish Arts Council funded residency; Convento São Francisco de Mértola, Portugal |
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| 2006 |
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The Royal Scottish Academy John Kinross Travelling Scholarship to Florence |
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| Talks |
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| 2010 |
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In Residence, Wallspace Gallery, London |
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| 2009 |
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Curating a Group Show, Wimbledon College of Art, London |
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| Competitions, prizes and awards |
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| 2009 |
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Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary: Runner-up, Mall Galleries, London |
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| 2007 |
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Scottish Arts Council Funding for residency in Portugal |
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| 2006 |
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John Kinross Travelling Scholarship to Florence, The Royal Scottish Academy, Italy |
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The James Cumming Award for Draughtsmanship, The Royal Scottish Academy |
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| 2005 |
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The Alexander Flynn Bequest, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh |
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| Publications / Articles |
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| 2011 |
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The Florence Trust Catalogue, London Edited By Colin Perry |
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MISC Magazine Summer Issue, USA |
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| 2008 |
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Jerwood Drawing Prize Catalogue |
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| 2005 |
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The Herald, Scotland, ‘The creatures down below In the midst of a show of good manners and good taste’ By Moira Jeffrey |
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| Collections |
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| The British Museum, Edinburgh College of Art, The Royal Scottish Academy, Victoria and Albert Museum, Convento de São Francisco, Apex Hotels, Glasgow Airport, Chichester Cathedral, West Dean College |
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