Lee Pohlsander: Painter & Mixed Media Artist
The first part of my career was spent on print media design and printing production, and I am currently focusing on illustration and fine art. I began exhibiting my work in 2007, and my paintings and drawings can be found in collections in Pennsylvania, New York, and Idaho.
Where you can find me
Email:
leepohlsander@gmail.com
3rd Floor
209 Bridge Street
Phoenixville, PA
Hours
Monday–Sunday
by appointment only
In 2019, I ran across Samuel Beckett’s play, “Endgame,” which was written after World War II and Beckett’s work with the French Resistance.
The four characters in Endgame are isolated emotionally and physically from from each other and the world. Only one, Clov, can see the outside world, and then only by climbing a ladder to look out a window. Sometimes he moves the ladder and looks out the window on his own, sometimes he looks out at Hamm’s request. From the dialogue, it becomes clear the characters remember the outside world, and are aware of, but barely coping with its apocalyptic changes. The rhythm and repetition of the language, like the steps of the ladder, lead to an inevitable but ambiguous end.
Later that year, a lingering bronchitis temporarily isolated me physically and emotionally. Much like the characters of Endgame, I was isolated from the world, but by my health. This was followed nearly immediately by an extended trip to care for my father, before moving him closer to me. Again, I was isolated, this time from my home.
My father’s physical and cognitive decline accelerated. Previously a world traveler, trips to the doctor became arduous. A scholar and author of eight books, his comprehension of written language decreased incrementally and regularly, separating him from history and study. Hearing loss, lack of mobility, reduced short-term memory, and Covid-19 further increased his isolation.
Ladders exist in co-dependent two parts: side rails, which exist separately from each other, and steps, which connect the side rails. Without the steps, the side rails have no stability, and without the side rails, the steps serve no function.
Spurred by “Endgame” (added space here) and life’s isolations, I began to visually explore ladders as a source of connection to the each other and the world, whether through the act of reaching up, as side rails do, or reaching across, as rungs do. As I explored, Covid-19 dragged through 2020 and 2021, and isolation became reality for much of the world. One ladder per painting, the works evolved to represent both isolation and connection of people, families, neighbors, communities, and the world.