Pascale Pollier – Where Art & Science Meet

I recently had my astrology chart read and one of the things the astrologer said made me laugh heartily, as it rang so true. She said “ even if they cut off both your arms and legs you would still be making sculptures!

So, being an artist and giving expressing to my thoughts and philosophies and materialising my ideas and concepts through art is as vital to me as breathing.

The astrologer also mentioned that my creativity is in the 5th house of fun, children and romance, she explained that therefore my artistic creations are like my children, and indeed, I feel extremely passionate about the work I create as it is so close to my heart.

When I was young I wanted to study chemistry. I loved to learn about the elements and was fascinated by the periodic table of Dmitri Mendeleev. The experimental nature of working in a laboratory had a magnet attraction on me but I was also extremely keen to indulge my passion for art and thus I was in a dilemma about which direction to take. Eventually I chose Art, but mainly as a means of expressing and communicating the scientific and experimental nature of my thought process and research.

I first became interested in alchemy during my time at Art school. I was somewhat obsessed in the making of paintings of hermaphrodites. During this time my interest stemmed from a philosophical point of view, and I was fascinated by the melding of two extremes, the joining of male and female forces— in fact the quest for ultimate perfection.

Later on when I studied medical art, I delved deeper into the medical condition of intersexualism or hermaphroditism, and this opened up several complex fields of gender study, from genetic, hormonal, psychological, emotional , physical , gender assignment; (for example I witnessed, and made drawings during a sex change operation on a person with ambiguous genitalia) to gender identity and social acceptance of the third gender. I studied all these aspects of being of third gender in great depth , made many drawings, and illustrations, and wrote my dissertation on the Androgyne Dichotomy.

Now, many years later I’m still very much inspired by alchemy and this is apparent in my sculptural work. I am intrigued by the symbolism in the imagery of Alchemy, and I am now studying the philosophy of this fascinating subject. To me Art is very much like practicing Alchemy, it is a process of purification.

Through my work I’m on a quest to find the philosopher’s stone. What is the nature of Reality? How does the universe operate? What is the life force?, how does it express itself within the physical body and realm?, What can we learn from the mortal dead body? What is Death? These are recurrent themes in my work and are what drive me onwards and into my studio every day with ever greater excitement and anticipation.

Find Pascale here: artem-medicalis.com

Photo: Jamie Myers