The Gate Keeper

534 Words3 Pages
The Gate Keeper JRenee is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana but spent most of her childhood in Memphis, Tennessee. JRenee received a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Xavier University. Her first exhibition was in 1991 alongside William Toliver in Lafayette, Louisiana. JRenee’s art is a celebration of her existence and the essence of her African American experience. JRenee, 42, has traveled around the country, and currently lives in South Carolina. When observing the work, JRenee wants the viewer to look past their pain and look inward at them finding a place of peace and beauty. When looking at themselves in the mirrors and the windows of JRenee’s world she wants them to feel good about themselves. Her Senegalese glass painting, The Gate Keeper includes tropical Gauguin-inspired figures, surrounded by poignant scenes from the city she loves, New Orleans. She has embedded cemeteries, second lines, iron work throughout the city, and flood wreckage. She often includes photo clippings to lend unexpectedly realistic touches. She has created an extraordinary version of The Gate Keeper it has taken on a level tangible form I have never seen in this reference. The medium in which is used was a great selection to commemorate it. This representational piece has used all most all if not all of the visual elements of art. The shaes and colors are magnificent. The contrasts created here gives you a sense of how she emphasis’s on certain objects. The picture in which you see today does not do justice for this work of art in person. As I gazed into the Gate Keepers eyes I felt as if she in gulped my very soul. It was as if I could feel her take some of the very life from my body. The white baboon, the serpent, the gargoyles overseeing the gate way to the other side, the sleeping child in darkness, the gate keepers evil eye are all a part of the Cajun
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