Meet our Campaign Artist: Renee Broders from Studio Gallery

Our team first fell in love with Renee Broders’ striking portraits at The Studio Gallery stand during the very first Affordable Art Fair in Sydney. Renee is a Melbourne-based artist and disability arts advocate, whose vibrant paintings merge the real with abstraction through a playful use of negative space. By emphasising the facial features shown in her compositions, Renee invites us to explore the psyche of her painted subjects. Renee has an intriguing creative process that incorporates technology with more traditional methods. Read on to hear more from Renee herself and be in-the-know before visiting the fair.  

Your portraits are very distinctive, can you tell us more about your unique process? 

During my initial image developmental phase, I utilise a range of paper and digital portraiture elements, combining these parts to create a wholly unique portrait and environmental image, that often aims to express how I’m feeling at that particular time. By creating these works, in this way, at times, I’m ultimately creating paintings that are sometimes self reflective and deeply personal. 

Through the aide of repetition, my process has evolved, with many of my works now being more detailed, with the addition of more elements, both within the portrait itself and it’s surrounding environment, which has greatly improved my vision and hence my stories.  

At all times, I aim to create images that can withhold attention, with the figure’s expression and the addition of a strong colour palette playing a big part in my developing images this way. 

What are your thoughts on the role that digital technology can play in traditional painting methods? 

Speaking from my own experience, digital technology has provided me with an important means in developing my own processes, allowing me to experiment before I start the very important physical artwork itself. This freedom has allowed me to extend the collage process, hence being a great way to develop my designs in order to test out theories, before starting the traditional painting.

Can you tell us more about what inspires your art practice, are there any motifs that you return to? 

I often revisit social motifs within the media when I need additional inspiration. As I’m inspired by beauty in all forms, I often seek elements that challenge social norms, in order to help establish the stories mood. 

I often find that motifs are useful when setting the tone or conjuring a particular mood and as motifs can also illuminate something about society, human nature, and the world, they can also reinforce themes through the repetition of certain narratives or elements, hence reinforcing or deepening themes or perspectives in ones own work. 

What does a typical day in your studio look like? 

My custom built studio is located in my backyard here in Melbourne. I feel very lucky to have the luxury of being able to practice at home rather than having to travel to work. 

I always finish the end of every day with a  sweep and tidy up of the days materials in the studio, as I’m pretty messy when I’m in working mode. The following morning, I try to get into the studio about 10am, I grab a coffee and a quick bite to eat, shuffle things around, pop on some music, welcome my two Sausage Dog’s, Otto and Archibald, inside and then I begin the day with a physical collage session, cutting up additional paper material and utilising existing features, using pieces from previous sessions along with some of the days new additions in order to create a myriad of new portraits and environments.  

This inital activity allows me the freedom to create stage one of the physical ideas that could be used to inspire a new body of work. Then after spending time studying the paper parts, as a whole and having settled upon something that strongly resonates, once everything is in place, I photograph the paper piece and by using an app on my phone, I begin manipulating the photograph, adding digital elements, adjusting and adding colours, stretching and resizing the elements. 

This digital stage kicks of the final image and is the starting point for the  physical painting which often consists of a mix of Oil and Acrylic paints.  Importantly my preferred choice of colours always arrives after I’ve finalised the overall expression in order to finish the work. 

This all happens five days a week as I’m trying to spend as much time as I can in the studio.   

What has been a memorable moment of your career to date? 

Meeting the beloved indigenous Icon, the late Uncle Jack Charles, who sadly passed away last year, by pure coincidence, after watching his Interview session with the incredible artist Anh Do, which led to an incredible opportunity in painting his portrait for the Doug Moran National Portraiture prize. Uncle Jack was a fantastic subject who was so generous, humble, encouraging and so excited when I called him to say that we had been shortlisted. Painting Uncle Jack will forever be a highlight in my career.  

Can you tell us more about the paintings you will be presenting at Affordable Art Fair Sydney with Studio Gallery? 

The works that I plan to present at Affordable Art Fair will be a range of both boldly coloured and also monochromatic paintings, dependent on the subject matter. I’ve been playing around with including flowers into the overall images lately, being symbolic of an exchange, representing where by the simple act of giving a gift can make a huge difference in ones life. Recently, I’ve been focusing on creating works that are quite introspective, aiming to emotionally connect with my audience and enable me to explore new themes and emotions. 

Thank you Renee for sharing these insights! Make sure to keep an eye out for her work at Affordable Art Fair Sydney 15 – 18 June. Our Early Bird ticket sale is on till 6 April.

Book your tickets to Affordable Art Fair Sydney now to make the most of the 50% off Early Bird Tickets sale!