Nickola Pottinger
fi mi heart full
February 25 - April 9, 2022

Deanna Evans Projects is pleased to present Nickola Pottinger’s solo exhibition, fi mi heart full. Pottinger’s unique process brings together sculpture, collage and drawing. She uses her own paper pulp recipes combining found cardboard and paper, pieces of earlier works, broken ceramics and additional organic elements to build up a base with a highly textured surface. Beginning in 2020, Pottinger has introduced materials that she excavates from her backyard in Brooklyn, one of the last West Indian-owned buildings on her block, into her pieces. From there, she uses pigment and oil pastel to incorporate graphic compositions into the works.

Through many layers of abstraction, Pottinger fuses specific elements of folklore as well as ideas of loss of legacy. Specifically, the bird motif highlighted throughout these works is seen as a connection between human and the divine spirit. Through their soaring freedom of movement, they create a link between earth and sky, and symbolize the connection between nature and the spiritual.

Additionally, the titles of her works are in Jamaican Patois and connect to specific places of her personal history or Jamaican proverbs. Further emphasizing the importance of language, the title of the exhibition, fi mi heart full, translates to my heart is full. Through her practice, she is able to connect her pieces to her legacy and prevent it from disappearing.

Nickola Pottinger was born in Jamaica, West Indies and earned her BFA from The Cooper Union in 2008. Pottinger's work was just exhibited in the New Museum Triennial (2022). Previous exhibitions include Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris (2021); Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn (2021); Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); The University of Arts, Philadelphia (2020); St. Charles Project, Baltimore (2019); Mild Climate, Tennessee (2018); Spring Break (2019), Deli Gallery (2017) and Ortega y Gasset Projects (2015), New York. She was a nominee of The Rema Hortmann Emerging Artist Grant.

PRESS
ARTE FUSE

Installation View

Nickola Pottinger, 'yuh too big' 2022, Paper pulp, sorrel, oil pastel and watercolor, 29 x 20 inches

Nickola Pottinger, 'ben di tree wen it young' 2022, Paper pulp, earth, watercolor, branch and findings, 38 x 35 x 1 inches

Nickola Pottinger, 'belly full' 2022, Paper pulp, sorrel, oil pastel and watercolor, 24 x 22 inches

Nickola Pottinger, 'a nuh all' 2022, Paper pulps, stone, bristles, seafoam and pigments, 26 x 13 x 7 inches

Nickola Pottinger, 'wha gwan bad' 2022, Paper pulp, sand, pigments and rocks, 8 x 11 3/4 inches

Nickola Pottinger, 'one fedder flock togedder' 2022, Paper pulp, sorrel, watercolor, earth, fi mi other tings dem, 35 x 33 x 1 inches

Nickola Pottinger, 'nuh bruk nuh square' 2022, Paper pulp, earth, watercolor, mosaics, sorrel, oil pastel and black soap and fi mi other tings, 46 x 36 x 1 inches

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