emelinerenardartist.org

Artistic Statement

My work is figurative, often infused with surreal elements. I primarily use acrylics, but I also incorporate ink, charcoal, embroidery, and watercolor. I’m especially drawn to techniques traditionally associated with women and unfairly relegated to the margins of the art world—what some still call “minor arts.”

My practice is rooted in political and social engagement. Four recurring themes shape my work:

• The invisibility of refugees and migrants in contemporary society

• Reinterpretations of ancient religious art to give women active, provocative roles

• Historical representations of oppression: Black Americans, Native Americans, forgotten women, colonized peoples

• A desire to strip away idealized human images and reveal something more true—and often uncomfortable

In my daily life, I work in the public sector, dealing with homelessness. This experience feeds my sensitivity to exclusion, bureaucracy, and the cold violence inflicted on the most vulnerable. Creating art is my way to resist that numbness. I paint those who move me viscerally—those whose dignity deserves to be seen, even when society looks away.

My inspirations are largely women: Anni Albers, Mimi Parent, Frida Kahlo. I often use surrealism as a mirror—to reflect not only how I perceive others, but how viewers might recognize themselves in the distortions.

Born in 1978 in a bleak, working-class Parisian suburb, I came to art late. I was raised to seek “stability” rather than self-expression. But two generous French painters—Marie Lépine-Pothon and Aurélie Dekeyser—helped me find my way into this world.

Despite the pain in my subjects, I remain deeply optimistic and humanistic. Humor, for me, is a form of utopia. Through painting, I try to create a space where fragility becomes beauty, and resistance becomes joy.

Portfolio

A pop-inspired series portraying gay male couples with vibrant tension, queer desire, and coded visibility.

rewriting the Sacred

Modern reinterpretations of sacred imagery featuring Barbie, Ken, and iconic Madonnas — where pop and the divine collide.

exile and erasure

Evoking invisible suffering and fragmented identity, these works use embroidery, acrylic, and handwritten memories.

contact

• Email : contact@emelinerenardartist.com
• phone : +33671158876
• @emeline_in_paris
  

Biogriphical notes

Émeline Renard was born in 1978 in a working-class suburb of Paris, into a single-parent family. Her mother, a white nurse from a very modest background, raised her alone. She barely know her father—Black and originally from the French Caribbean— who came to mainland France for work, like many from overseas territories, and went back to Martinique. These social and cultural origins deeply shaped her identity, her view of the world, and her artistic sensitivity.

Originally trained in a non-artistic field, she turned to drawing and painting later in life, during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was mentored by two French painters, Marie Lépine-Pothon and Aurélie Dekeyser, who offered her complementary approaches to form and color.

Her artistic practice blends figurative painting with embroidery, pastel, and surrealist techniques. She explores themes of exile, memory, injustice, and the rewriting of traditional iconography—often from a feminist, decolonial, or queer perspective.

As a lesbian artist actively involved in the LGBTQ+ community, she is committed to making visible what society erases or marginalizes. Her work is also informed by her public service job, where she works with homeless populations and migrants—experiences that fuel her sense of urgency, tenderness, and revolt.

She lives and works in Paris, France.