Curator

Wheels | Polly Shindler

Academic

gallerist

Polly Shindler

In this work, Polly Shindler celebrates not only the iconic  shape and design of the mail truck, but also what it symbolizes democratically  -- “I love using the US Postal Service. There is something special about a thing you see almost everyday, that is on its way to deliver a valued parcel and will find you just about wherever you go. They are obligated to deliver to every person in the US.”

Mail Truck with Packages

The luggage and sleeping bags strapped on the roof of this van -- the original minivan -- elevates it from the pedestrian tasks of running errands and shuttling the kids, to the heroic American ideal of the road trip. For the artist, “This was another family car. I loved the novelty of the sliding backdoor”.

Dodge Caravan with Luggage Rack

When the artist lived in the city, she enjoyed riding buses -- “I much preferred it to the subway. I liked seeing where I was going. The subway felt like sorcery, I had no idea how I got to my destination. Once I got the bus system down, I felt very masterful.” The New York icon represents her first work in the series on a new larger scale.

MTA Bus B38

Like a perfume or a song, cars can also be laden with nostalgia. The artist recalls, “At age 8, I was at a friend’s house and when my parents came to pick me up they were in this new car. It was white and my parents looked so cool. I have a picture of them in it, and they were very 80s chic.” 

Nissan/Datsun Z T-top

The iconic ice cream truck caught the artist’s attention because of its overall design and also all the familiar details, including the symbology of the menu, the celebratory fonts, and the counter’s sliding window. “I associate the trucks with the softball games I was made to participate in as an unathletic child. I don’t even recall having any ice cream. Just that it was always at the field,” she recalls. 

Ice Cream Truck #2

The Ford pickup truck was the first vehicle the artist  ever wanted. Shindler believed owning a truck would make her feel tough. “I made this truck for the kind of person who has a spare tire and hauls lumber around. Not someone like me. At least not yet,” she states. 

1985 Ford F10

During quarantine, motor homes have become very easy to romanticize. “Because there won’t be any real travel for me this summer, I was thinking of how great it’d be to travel in your hotel room. I’ve never really wanted to travel in an RV but this year, it seems pretty ideal,” the artist suggests. 

Throughout her career, Polly Shindler has primarily painted interior scenes. During the quarantine she started using brown paper bag and glue as her new medium. Exploring shapes, she found herself drawn to cars and vehicles. She'd always had a fondness for them, collecting model cars and being fascinated by their shapes, their structure, their details. If interiors are where we have been “trapped” during the pandemic, cars represent freedom and have become as exotic as airplanes, promising us the possibility of exploring new and different landscapes.

Wheels | Polly Shindler

Curated by Gisela Gueiros

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