I was born in 1960 and became the product of television and information. I come from a family of eleven. Being an individual was difficult at best and the reuse of items became the norm before recycling was a household word. There are two opposing forces at work within me that challange each other, emotions and rational, hense I label myself an introverted, extrovert.
Most of my art tends to come from the surreal portion of my mind working with metaphor and humour. I am an autodidact who has learned from books, surroundings or by trial and error. I like science and it`s tools because it is self correcting and cannot hold a prejudice. I believe that independent thinking is the crux of new ideas and that traditional teaching enforces mostly the status quo. To me the individual reigns above everything else and society is secondary. One begets the other, if a group can have no more rights than an individual than this is the manner in which laws need to be made and not the reverse. If you protect the individual you protect everyone equally. These are some of the ideas that drive my passions, beauty is the other side of my nature. Beauty is everywhere, especially where one never thinks to look because of our inherent prejudice that our senses force upon us. I believe that higher emotional life forms are genetically bred to wonder and create.
I often create with the contrasts of beauty and the outrageous
and set it up in a juxtaposition of ideas within my art to uphold my beliefs about myself and others. I paint in oils, acrylics and I sculpt in metals, paper mache, clay and found objects. I also write poems, I prefer to call them lymerics or verse. To contact me you can email me at jcrenaud69@hotmail.com or you can call me or leave a message at 1-780-433-1040.

Joe Renaud