Meet Renée Rey | Painting, Mixed Media, and Installation Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Renée Rey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Renée, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

Through my painting, mixed media, and installation art, I invite you into my immersive fantastical worlds.

They are places that are driven by my personal memories and emotions. I celebrate positive concepts of equality, inclusiveness, and kinship between diverse people and cultures through the perspective of shared goals for a healthy and sustainable global environment.

I blend symbolic imagery with abstraction to unlock a sense of mystery. It creates an atmosphere to take a longer look at my work. This gives you the opportunity to discover personal connections, meanings, and emotional bonds when engaging with the details in my pieces.

I love the stimulating conversations that have ensued. Viewers make associations between my work and their own experiences. They are eager to share their deeper thoughts with me and touch upon a myriad of topics important to them. In addition, some of the impressions I received from my December 2023 solo gallery exhibition included “moving,” “so inspiring,” and “I want to live here!”

The connections and feelings that many experienced and hopefully remember transcend the physical pieces of art for me.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am excited about being an artist in residence at Bailey Contemporary Arts in Pompano Beach, FL through June 2024! In addition to having a private studio in which to create new paintings, mixed-media, and installation art, I had a solo gallery exhibition during December 2023.

The exhibition was entitled “It is not down in any map; true places never are,” taking its name from an enigmatic passage in the book, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. It gave me a new opportunity to make free associations between historical literature and my current art. It is the first time I experimented with and activated a space where you could enjoy an immersive experience in the ethereal and fantastical worlds I create. In my work, imagery of nature, technology, and people transform as they move in and out of the sky and clouds in a state of unpredictable flux. I want to mirror this feeling in three-dimensional space.

One of the most important reasons I became a professional artist was to explore and express ideas that have deep meaning for me and share them with you. Over the past several years, I have investigated concepts of place, memory, transformation, reconstruction, and their relationship to the current social and political landscape. I draw upon powerful emotions and memories of awe-inspiring nature, risks of human-made technologies, and the rewards of connection and kinship with diverse people and cultures. I think about transcendence and a higher state of consciousness.

This exploration is seeded in a childhood mystical experience that developed into a belief in a “Grand Unity,” an internal oneness with nature and people around the world. It is rooted in equality, inclusiveness, and a healthy environment for all of creation.

Fortuitously, the exchange with viewers and collectors has been a dynamic exchange and learning experience that has included topics related to science, spirituality, personal expression, and building a better world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There is so much to explore in South Florida!

Seeing my art studio and the gallery exhibitions at Bailey Contemporary Arts (BaCA), Pompano Beach would be priority. During season, Old Town Untapped on first Fridays at BaCA has music, art, and more. South Restaurant is right around the corner. We would look into other performances at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center.

We would visit premier Miami art galleries including Jupiter Contemporary, Zilberman Miami, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Emerson Dorsch, David Castillo Gallery, DotFiftyOne, Breach Gallery, and Fredric Spitzer Gallery.

Art collections to see would include de la Cruz Collection, Margulies Collection, and Rubell Museum.

We would have lunch or dinner would be at ZOI Restaurant and Lounge in Little Haiti.

Museum visits would include NSU Museum Fort Lauderdale, Perez Museum in Miami, Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, and Murakami Museum and Gardens in Delray Beach.

Beach time anywhere along the coast from South Beach to Palm Beach would be on the list.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Thank you to family, friends, clients, colleagues, and teachers for your the heartfelt support and encouragement over a meaningful creative career.

Website: www.ReneeRey.com

Instagram: @reneereyart

Linkedin: Renee Rey

Facebook: Renee Rey

Youtube: Renee Rey