Ren Dessart
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Artist Statement
The first artist statement I wrote for this show explored the technical and conceptual details of the work. In its simplicity, my work is about the trials and tribulations of being perceived, and the way in which my perception of myself cannot be fully understood by others, and how I cannot fully understand other’s perceptions of me. I was trying to express through both the written statement and my art that perception is subjective and no matter how hard we try to comprehend it there are too many factors that are beyond our control. I was then struck with an epiphany; my artist statement was trying to do the exact thing I was saying couldn’t be done. It was three paragraphs of exposition on how my work should be perceived. I said that my work is about how perception cannot be controlled even though by saying so I was trying to control the reader’s perception of my work.
Therefore, instead of trying to tell you how you should perceive my work, I will tell you what it means to me and allow you to draw your own conclusions. This show is a series of posters and photographs, created using techniques from graphic design, advertising, letterpress, and photography. The posters draw upon my inner thoughts, presented with bold colors, artistic text, and graphic shapes in an attempt to show the inner self that I usually keep imperceptible to others. They are humorous with a darker undertone which borders on the absurd, yet they also occasionally touch on quite serious topics. Interspersed on the wall with the photographs, I see them as the monologue which runs through my head hidden amongst the otherwise public moments portrayed in the photographs. The same bright colors and graphic shapes are used in the photographs to tie the two series together. The photographs are intended to capture the outsider's point of view, but they are partially covered with these graphical elements.
I see other’s perceptions of me as clouded by what they know about me, as well as limited by what they don’t. What they don’t know about me is those same inner thoughts and emotions represented by the posters, and what they do is the scenes pictured in the photographs. As all this work is viewed side by side, I see it as an intertwining of the complex reality of being perceived.
Merging these two different ideas of the self into one is difficult, and I believe it may be impossible. Perception is limited and influenced by many factors. Therefore, to try to exert total control over our own or someone else’s perception is ultimately a futile effort in my eyes. The best we can hope to do is to accept that perception is subjective. That being said, how do you perceive my work?
![A photograph with vertical orientation of a field by the side of the road covered in snow with several evergreen trees. The image is framed by a border of two shades of pink and pink telephone cross the top of the image with a pink pair of shoes hanging from the bottom wire. Alight yellow figure hangs from one hand off the bottom wire with the other hand reaching for the shoes.](_images/01_rendessart-660x967.jpg)
Pink Shoe // LineArchival print // 22 x 32 inches
![A pastel pink poster with light yellow and white text that reads “I’ve never made art before in my life and I won’t start now.” A hand holding a green paint brush is drawing the cross of the t in art.](_images/02_rendessart-660x806.jpg)
Imagine Being an Artist...I Could Never // Archival print // 26 ¾ x 22 ¾ inches
![A horizontal photograph looking up from the ground at a roof with a smoke stack and two plumes of white smoke rising up from behind. The image is framed by a border of two shades of dark green. The smoke stack is covered by a transparent layer of the same green. A dark pink figure is dancing on the roof in the foreground.](_images/03_rendessart-660x449.jpg)
Dark Green Dance // Archival print // 32 x 22 inches
![A pastel blue poster with a dark gray border and white and dark gray text that reads “Life is just answer emails and then you die.” A white envelope with a red notification bubble has a paper airplane flying away from it connected with a dotted looping flight trail.](_images/04_rendessart-660x907.jpg)
Life, but Everytime You Answer an Email it Gets Faster // Archival print // 27 ½ x 20 inches
![A vertical photograph of a brown brick building by a sidewalk. By the building are a few large evergreen trees with a yellow picnic bench underneath them in the background. The image is framed by a border of two shades of blue; a retaining stone brick wall is covered by a layer of transparent blue in the foreground. A white figure lays face down on the bench of the picnic table.](_images/05_rendessart-660x953.jpg)
Blue Bench // Archival print // 22 x 32 inches
![A light green poster with white and black text that reads “If there are any mind readers out there I am so sorry.” There is a black silhouette of a side profile of a person facing to the left with a light gray shape of a brain in the head.](_images/06_rendessart-660x907.jpg)
Read My Mind at Your Own Risk // Archival print // 21 x 29 ½ inches
![A horizontal photograph of a snowy yard with a forest in the background, and a light green fence running across the middle of the image dividing the two. The image is framed by a border of two different shades of light green with a dark gray figure laying in the snow making snow angels in the foreground.](_images/07_rendessart-660x449.jpg)
Green Fence // Archival print // 32 x 22 inches
![A bright yellow poster with white, black and red text reading “Art, so simple a woman could do it!” A figure of a woman with short brown hair and a red shirt from the waist up is in the bottom left corner with one hand pressed to her mouth in surprise.](_images/08_rendessart-660x825.jpg)
If I Was a Woman, I’d be An Artist // Archival print // 20 x 23 ½ inches
![A horizontal photograph of the edge of the roof of a building overlooking a valley with hills in the distance. The image is framed by a border of two shades of dark red with red railings running across the midground of the image. A dark gray figure is hanging upside down from the edge of the roof.](_images/09_rendessart-660x449.jpg)
Red Roof // Archival print // 32 x 22 inches
![A dark red poster with a black border and black and white text that reads “Maybe the French had the right idea.” A drawing of a guillotine is on the left side of the poster.](_images/10_rendessart-660x825.jpg)
Do the Rich Even Taste Good? // Archival print // 18 ½ x 29 inches