Kaleidoscopic Nature Paintings by Renée Duval
Featured artist Renée Duval creates philosophical, kaleidoscopic nature paintings with trees as a common motif. Renée is currently based in Montreal, Quebec.
The artist’s most recent series of paintings in her portfolio is entitled Gods and Monsters. Fittingly, most of the works in this gallery take their names from figures in various religions and mythologies. Taking a single tree or plant as her subject, Renée creates a mirror image of the leaves and branches so that the canvas is symmetrically split down the middle. Combined with the neutral sky background in most of the works, the effect is subtle enough to create a painting that seems just slightly off-kilter and unreal.
Previous tree-based paintings by Renée are more visually straightforward. Titles in the form of temporal turns of phrase add an extra layer of meaning to the images of trees shown at upward angles against angry-looking skies. A few of these works focus solely on the clouds, reminding me of the painting works of Ian Fisher.
