Edward Rennie

Edward Rennie’s paintings start as a response to ‘place’ or immediate urban/industrial landscape. Source material (photography, drawing, collage) is used to construct imagery and paintings usually retain elements of figuration such as references to architecture or typography.

Paint is applied in flat areas of colour, most of which is removed, concealed or re-worked. The surface becomes more complex as work proceeds. Some areas are painted out completely - build up of paint or changes in surface bare witness to problem solving.

I am interested in how colour can describe space - or change as it becomes an ‘edge’ against another colour. Iridescent surface and ‘fluctuation’ of edge create an uncertainty, which contrasts with apparent balance and order. I think it’s important that a large, physical painting has elements that are also very fragile, hidden or transparent.

Edward Rennie studied Fine Art (1st Class Degree in Painting) at Liverpool Polytechnic and an MA at the Royal College of Art, London. He has recently shown new painting and photography in Antwerp, Belgium. He has work in national and international collections of Painting including Manchester Airport, Nomura International (London), Susan and Robert Summer Collection of British Contemporary Painting, (New York).