Ren Phu is a painter and illustrator from central Connecticut. In 2019, they earned their BFA in Painting & Drawing and Illustration from the Hartford Art School. Through their work, they establish their ideas on mortality, identity, and dysphoria.
past exhibitions
2023
Little Big VIII, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Perspectives of Time, WORK_SPACE, Manchester, CT
Art of Antiquity, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Duality, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Blank Canvas Show, WORK_SPACE, Manchester, CT2022
Little Big VII, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Art of Pride, WORK_SPACE, Manchester, CT 2021
All Roads, Five Points Annex Gallery, Torrington, CT (exhibited & curated)
2020
Small Works 2020 Exhibition, Five Points Annex Gallery, Torrington, CT
l’apéro, 6”X8”, oil on canvas. 2023le chasseur (Valéry), 6”x8”
, oil on canvas. 2023
le régal, 6”x8”
, oil on canvas. 2023
Sebastian, 16”x20”
, oil on canvas. 2023
Of the Earth (renvoyer), 15”x30”
, oil on canvas. 2023
Of the Sky (revenir), 15”x30”
, oil on canvas. 2023
le voile, 8”x8”
, oil on canvas. 2023
saving face, 5.5”x8”, oil on canvas. 2022the fool, 5.25”x7.5”, oil on canvas, 2022I Hope this is Heaven, 16”x20”, oil on canvas, 2022angels (take me home), 24”x30”, oil on canvas. 2021The Ascent, 24”x54”, oil on canvas. 2020party mouth, 10”x10”, oil on canvas. 2021eye cake, 10”x10”, oil on canvas. 2021face drip (distant but constant feeling), 11”x14”, gouache on paper. 2019Mallow, 11”x14”, gouache on paperboard. 2019
“My work is an exploration of identity & dysphoria, and the distinction between the self and the body. As a genderqueer individual, I find myself in constant performance; from my posture to my vocabulary, my every gesture is calculated in an attempt to untether people’s idea of me from their assumptions about my appearance, but furthermore, my body. My physical form presents itself first, and as much as it serves me, it also imprisons me. I see it as the tool with which I experience the outside world, a facilitator between my metaphysical self and the earth. It carries me through life, but brings with it the inevitability of death & decay. Juxtaposed with the sweet, dreamy veneer of Rococo-style painting, I envisage the travesty of acting as one’s own self, the escape from the burdens of physicality, and the grandeur that lies beyond.”