Renée Estée
Renée Estée is a young contemporary artist whose practice emphasizes the creation of myths and rituals associated with mourning, celebration, and commemoration.
Biography of Renée Estée
Renée Estée was born in 1993 in Australia. In 2016, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honors (First Class Hons) from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. Subsequently, in 2022, she completed her Master of Fine Arts (Painting) at Hunter College in New York City.
As for now, the artist has had one solo exhibition at COMA gallery. The show "Choral Ode" took part in 2023.
In addition to this show, Renée Estée has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including "Scoopnet" at the Victorian College of the Arts Artspace Gallery in Melbourne, Australia (2014); "Proud" at The Margaret Lawrence Gallery in Melbourne, Australia (2015); "On The Road To LA" at 168 Queens Parade Gallery in Melbourne, Australia (2017); "Outside The Wind Fluttered, Then Remained Quiet" at SFA Projects in New York City, US (2020); "The Privilege of Getting Together" at Anna Zorina Gallery in New York City, US (2021); "It Begins With What’s Already There," MFA Thesis Exhibition at 205 Hudson Gallery in New York City, US (2022), among many others.
Estée has received several prizes and scholarships, including the Brunswick Street Gallery Painting Prize (2014), the Proud Exhibition ACMI Award (2015), the John Vickery Scholarship for Excellence (2015), the Stirling Collective Award for Painting (2016), the National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association Award (2016), the Hunter College Summer Scholarship, and the Hunter College Stanton Grant (2021), among others.
Currently, the artist lives and works in New York, USA.
Renée Estée's Art Style
Intertwining concepts and imagery inspired by the Australian Outback, Hauntology, Orphism, and reflections on afterlife beliefs, Estée's practice illuminates the creation of myths and rituals associated with mourning, celebration, and commemoration.
Functioning as visual expressions of love and epitaphs, her large-scale oil paintings merge figuration and abstraction, giving rise to realms where she can connect with the departed and confront the prospect of future loss. These figures, taking on ethereal qualities, materialize through layered, expressive mark-making that shifts in and out of their surrounding environments.
Meanwhile, animals meander on the periphery, bearing witness to the processes of departure and transformation. Through a combination of thick impasto marks, delicate washes, and surface stains, Estée explores the painting's capacity to omit and transfigure.