The site features many paintings that I created prior to 1996, as well as current works dating from the last few years. Special thanks to Michael Sawdey for photographing my work.
Statement
This series of paintings reflects my interest in the ancient art of Alchemy: the transmutation of base metals into gold, or miraculous change of one thing into another. Through the use of certain colors and images I find that my story slowly emerges and reveals itself. Green is the color of beginning–matter in the raw, the primordial state. Red is associated with the goal of the Great Work. The dragon feeding on its own tail is a symbol of the cyclic nature of the universe. The chicken is an emblem of the Philosophical egg, the glassed-in world in which transformations occur. The professed work of alchemy was never accomplished but, as an artist, I have a different task. It is not so very different from that of the alchemists, which they really did accomplish: to delve into the appearances and properties of many worlds, real and imagined, and make them one, record and order what was seen and classified, thus rendering a different world, in the end.
Rena Church
We luv your work!! We didn’t realize we had such a talented cuz!
Hey !!!!!!!!
I had no idea you had a site ….. Love the work !
Have you checked out Remedios Varo’s work ?
or Leonora Carrington ? or Leonor Fini ?
They all have that same “other world” feel to their work. I love the Naive feel your pieces have.
HUGS!
Alex
Thanks so much Alex! I’ve actually struggled to start working again after thirteen years of not being able to for lots of reasons. I found it was necessary to take the humans out of current works….
Hugs!!
PS: I’ll check out those websites!
Congratulations,
Its good to see you working again !!
Mikel
Love you and your artwork Rena!! Very inspiring!!
Thanks so much Diane! Love you too!!!