Renée Mathews

I am a multidisciplinary artist with a practice that incorporates soft sculpture, collage, and performance. With consideration for the body, space, and environment, my practice is centered around material. Using existing materials to minimize ecological impact, I create soft sculptures that respond to the cultural and tactile desires of the body. Their forms are informed by both aesthetic as well as practical needs, including what their lives look like when not in the public sphere and how they are cared for, stored and transported. I am interested in how the body responds to these sculptures both intuitively and consciously. I consider materials to be co-conspirators in the art making process and the outcomes of this process to be artifacts of a world built to soothe and expand the imagination. I view performance as an investigative process that tries to address the emotional and physical needs of both the active and passive participant. The collage aspect of my work is a practice in trusting intuitive decision making by using a low-stakes material and medium to foster a dialogue between my body, specifically my hands, and the conscious brain. All of my artistic explorations stem from a place of curiosity and asking “what if” and “why not”.