Renee French
Showing with Zoe Lacchei, Aaron Bo Heimlich, and Alessia Iannetti
October 2 – November 1, 2015
Artist reception: Friday, October 2nd; 8-11PM
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com
Renee French is an American artist, best known as a comics writer and illustrator, who also enthrals audiences as an exhibiting fine artist. The narratives that unfurl from Renee’s mind and onto her paper, span the wide chasm that exists between child friendly fairy tales and the dark gritty regions of adult introspection. Working primarily with extremely fine pointed graphite pencils on miniature pieces of paper, often measuring no more than two or three inches square, French conjures up fuzzy and foreboding images which convey humourous, and at times, disturbing tales. Focusing squarely on creating poignant and emotional portrayals of her characters, French saturates them with feeling, giving realism and depth to even the most fantastical of creatures, whether they be beautiful or less so. And with this last thought in mind, if there is one thing that Renee enjoys reminding us, it is that we shouldn’t always judge a book by it’s cover. – Tim Maclean, Wow X Wow
Renée French’s work includes “H Day” (Picturebox), “The Soap Lady” (inspired by the display in the Mütter Museum) (Top Shelf Productions), “The Ticking” (Top Shelf Productions), and “Micrographica” (Top Shelf Productions), “Edison Steelhead’s Lost Portfolio – Exploratory Studies of Girls and Rabbits” (Sparkplug Comicbooks), and “Marbles in My Underpants” (Oni Press). She also has a weekly strip in the New York Press. Her serialized comic “Baby Bjornstrand” appears on the Study Group Comic Books website
French has a serialized illustrated story in the Fantagraphics Books quarterly Mome (comics) called “Almost Sound.” She is also the author of the forthcoming comic book for children, “Barry’s Best Buddy,” out from TOON Books in Spring 2013.
French drew Glenda, the Plan 9 Bunny, the mascot of the Plan 9 from Bell Labs operating system, and the gopher mascot for the Go programming language. French is married to Rob Pike, one of the creators of Plan 9 from Bell Labs, and of the Go programming language at Google. They split their time between the United States and Australia.
Check out this interview with French in Wow x Wow
