Viola Renate
by Nikola Lamburov, Amsterdam, 2019.
Viola Renate
by Nikola Lamburov, Amsterdam, 2019.
I N F O R M A T I O N
Multidisciplinary Artist Viola Renate engages in an electric play of expressing shapeless dimensions into hybrid forms.
Digital pixel paint transcends into tactility colliding with oil paint on her canvases.
In her hanging sculptures and space jewelry, she warps luxury objects as well as the contextual references in which they are experienced.
By manipulating the parameters of software, intuitive shapes of fantasy hardware come into existence through contemporary craft. The reconnection with handwork, where the power literally lies in one’s own hands, is a symbol of her sovereignty.
Viola Renate’s main artistic and personal dedication lies in the emancipation of limiting constructed realities. Continuously freeing the way for herself and the viewer to experience the eternal spark of spirit.
For over a decade, Viola Renate has gained international recognition under the name Pinar&Viola, a creative duo formed with Pinar Demirdag from 2009 – 2020. They have created a unique visual language and an immense body of work in sync with the latest image technologies.
In the last few years, parallel to P&V, Artist Viola Renate has been investigating her solo artistic practice. Her devotion lures towards research on animistic freedom. She remains in sync with forces of nature and the omnipresent-mystique on occupied reality.
This devotion to the earth and its elemental spirits is reflected in her solo work.
Selected Exhibitions
Garage Rotterdam, 2020 [VR]
Pinar&Viola 2009 — 2020
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Kesselskramer Gallery, Los Angeles
Gleichapel Gallery, Paris
z33, Hasselt
Cobra Museum, Amstelveen
Sónar Festival, Istanbul
New Museum, New York City
Clients: Jivamukti Yoga Paris, WeTransfer, Stedelijk Museum, CitizenM, Koché, Ganni, Dazed Digital, IKEA, Rhizome, Paradiso, Nike, Adidas, MTV, Diplo, Goddess Temple, Change Is Good, GVB, Kessels Kramer, Donald Schneider Studio.
‘Swallowed by the Lotus’
Oils and digital paint on canvas700 x 1000 mm
© 2020 Viola Renate
‘Swallowed by the Lotus’
Oils and digital paint on canvas100 x 70 cm
© 2020 Viola Renate
S/HeArt 2020 — software / hardware / clean water everywhere
© 2020 Viola Renate
Room for the fluid spirit of bloom. As relative parts build a new entire.
Trans-physical post digital works.
AMSTERDAM
Room for the fluid spirit of bloom. As relative parts build a new entire.
Trans-physical post digital works.
AMSTERDAM
A New Order, A New Earth
21.11 – 17.01.2021
Location:
GARAGE Rotterdam
Goutsewagenstraat 27
3011 SR Rotterdam
The Netherlands
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A New Order, A New Earth brings together visual arts, quantum science, philosophical traditions as well as ancient shamanistic wisdom and AI technology. Nine international artists, thinkers, and scientists have created visions of an alternative relationship between man and nature. Re-envisioning us as (part of) nature, instead of separate from it.
With artists – Ambassade van de Noordzee (Harpo ‘t Hart and Daan ’t Sas), Zheng Bo, Johan Grimonprez, Idiots, Jan Koen Lomans, Annika Kappner, Solange Pessoa, Pinar&Viola, and Viola Renate. Curated by Imke Ruigrok.
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VIOLA RENATE
Everything Belongs To Everything
Viola Renate presents her special view of the world, rooted in the idea that nature is animated. Her paintings depict fairies or Elementals as the builders of the natural world. While the majority of people view Elementals as mere fantasy, Renate tells that we have only a limited view of reality.₁ The fact that our senses cannot see something does not mean it is not there. Hence, she understands that visualizing this second layer of reality is helpful in understanding its importance.₂
Perhaps again, once we see nature as sacred and animated, we will understand how the waste of our lifestyle damages it.
Viola Renate grew up with nature and away from TV. This has shaped her worldview; on the one hand because she experienced superficiality in the toys and the interests of the other children, on the other because she was attracted to that world. This is reflected in her eclectic style, which tries to reconcile both. In her work she uses references to the (plastic) pop culture we grew up with, but also talks about the inspired nature that we seem to have forgotten.
On view between the paintings, are three pairs of earrings in glass earplug cassettes, entitled Delirious Pearls by Viola Renate. In the occurrence of this exhibition during the pandemic, where eyes are evermore present, these embellishments represent the momentous act of public gathering. Eyes on ears, making-an-entrance to the installation by translating fairy tongue’s of dressy comfort and quantum vision, due to Covid-19 face masking.
1. Joan of Arc states that she received her mission ‘[…] at the tree of the Fairy-ladies’. A Natural History of Unnatural Things by Daniel Cohen, 109, McCall Publishing Co., New York City, 1971.
The tree of the Fairy-ladies is located in the region of Domrémy, the birth place of Joan of Arc.
2. ‘It seems the fairy-religion was practiced secretly through the most of the Christian era, especially by women, whose Goddess’ the patriarchal church kept trying to take away, giving them no substitute but Mary, who lacked the old Goddess’ powers’. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker, 299, New York City, 1983.
‘Lesson Baby’
Oils, acrylics and digital paint on canvas
80 x 120 cm
© 2020 Viola Renate
