Alicia Renadette:  Energy Constellations

March 1 - May 14, 2021
Zoom Event: March 12, 2021 - 12:00 - 12:30 p.m. ET
 


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 Alicia Renadette borrowed the title “Energy Constellations” from a quote by the artist, Joseph Beuys. Like Beuys, Renadette believes that most materials and objects contain hidden symbolic potential. The materials she chooses are mostly discarded items that were meant to provide domestic comfort, decoration and order, but which have been heaped onto curbside piles of holiday aftermaths; tangled and strewn across landscapes; or lumped in with the other rejects at the thrift store. Out of disfavored fantastical materials such as artificial Christmas Trees, hobby horses, plastic flower arrangements, and lacy lingerie mixed with the lesser celebrated trappings of home like afghans, lumpy pillows, frumpy sweaters, dishwashing gloves and brightly colored sponges, she creates new associations and uniquely surreal ecosystems built around overcoming hidden trauma within the home.

In her work, the Feminine realms of gardens and home are portrayed as tangled truths and altars of excess fraught with menacing beauty. Subterranean layers with compounded clusters of familiar textures can be gleaned through overgrowths of disposable party ephemera crawling on the surfaces in textures suggestive of a photographic fungal disease. The amassment of Stuff is meant to mimic a tendency to cover or placate mental anguish by burying it with material things. Renadette believes, however, that these specific arrangements of these specific materials work together to reclaim their value by propagating new energy, and generating new meaning independent of their manufactured intentions.

In the artist's words, “ I depict these scenarios in-flux and with touches of light- hearted irony in order to allow for the possibility of resilience and humor in spite of trauma created by social dysfunction. I find that I need to acknowledge trauma, but to have a reserve of hope and humor in order to thrive in my surroundings.”

Alicia Renadette is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work covers a range of approaches- from sculpture/installation, to costume construction/performance, and mixed-media drawings. Her work has been exhibited nationally with shows at the Sculpture Center (NY); Southern Exposure (San Francisco); Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (VT) and at the Governor's Island Art Fair (NYC). She has been the recipient of grants from Assets for Artists with Mass MoCA, Vermont Studio Center and the local cultural councils of Holyoke and Lowell, MA. She holds an MFA in Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA in Experimental Studio/ Sculpture from the Hartford Art School. She currently spends her time between Providence, RI and Holyoke, MA.