ARTIST STATEMENT
“Ten years ago, my world shifted. I was a painter and dancer living in a dream of practicing what had been done before.
No one knew what was ahead for me, most of all, me.
I got interrupted by stumbling into the everyday and the under-noticed potential of waste- materials, especially plastics.
Working with the unthinkable I create large-scale installations that make one consider the idea that these materials should not really exist, but if they do please find a way to reuse them.
I begin to think about what I throw out, and what I can make from things that go straight to the landfill and end up lingering in the environment.
My projects question what is beauty, what is ugly, and what is now?”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Originally from Lexington, Massachusetts, Reenie Charriere is a mixed media artist based in Oakland, California. Charriere received her BA in Communications from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and her MFA in Studio Arts from Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine. An internationally exhibiting artist, Charriere’s exhibition highlights include: Galeria Espai B (Barcelona), the Bojagi Forum (Seoul), and at the Chateau de la Napoule (Mandelieu-La Napoule, France), as well as all over the United States. Charriere is the receipient of two Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants, the Roderick Dew Travel Grant, and has held artist residences at Draw-International (France), Hannacc Can Bourni (Spain), Maine College of Art, the La Napoule Art Foundation (France), SF MOMA, Arts Benicia and Vermont Studio. Her work has been commissioned by San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, Marin Sanitary Service, and the Peoria Playhouse Children’s Museum.
© Reenie Charriere