Artist’s Statement
Reko Rennie is an interdisciplinary artist who explores his Aboriginal identity through contemporary mediums.
Biography
http://rekorennie.com/cv/
Awards
Prizes / Grants / Residences
2015
National Indigenous Art Awards - Fellowship, Australia Council for the Arts, Australia
2014
Asialink Residency,Cemeti Art House, Yogjakarta, Indonesia
2013
City of Albany Art Prize winner for ‘Bunbury Street’
Gertrude Contemporary, Artist Studio Residency, Melbourne
2012
University of NSW, Centre of Fine Art, Print Residency with Cicada Press, Sydney
Gertrude Contemporary, Artist Studio Residency, Melbourne
2011
Australia Council New Work Grant
2010
Residency – Le M.U.R. association, Mural, Paris on rue St Maur and rue Oberkampf
Short Listed - 2010 The Fletcher Jones Art Prize, Geelong Gallery
Short Listed – Sunshine Coast Art Prize
Finalist – 27th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2009
Residency - Cite Internationale des Artes, Australia Council, Paris
Finalist – Royal Bank Scotland Emerging Artist Award (formerly ABN AMBRO Award)
Arts Grant - City of Port Phillip
2008
Winner - Victorian Indigenous Art Awards, Boscia Gallery, Melbourne
Highly Commended - Gumbri: White Dove, by NGV Indigenous Curator
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2017
YES, Kronenberg Wright Artists Projects, Sydney
2016
Visible Invisible, Blackartprojects, Melbourne
2015
I Was Always Here, Blackartprojects at Sydney Contemporary
2014
Warriors Come Out to Play, Cemeti Art House, Yogjakarta, Indonesia
No Sleep Till Dreamtime, Chalkhorse Gallery, Curated by blackartprojects, Sydney
No Sleep Till Dreamtime, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Curated by blackartprojects, Sydney
2013
King And Country, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
Black Diamond, blackartprojects, Sydney Contemporary 2013
Regalia, Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Brisbane
Royalty, Gertrude Contemporary Studio 12, Melbourne
2012
OA NDN, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts collaboration with Frank Buffalo Hyde, Santa Fe, USA
Scope Art Fair, Reko Rennie, dianne tanzer gallery + projects, New York, USA
2011
NEO GEO, dianne tanzer gallery + projects , Melbourne
Patternation, curated by Stephen Gilchrist (NGV),Kluge-Ruhe Institute, University of Virginia, USA
Tandanya Artspace, South AustaliaBlack Magic, MOP Projects, Sydney (dianne tanzer gallery + projects off site venture)
dianne tanzer gallery + projects, MelbourneBlack Magic, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Finalist piece ‘Rekospective’ in 2011 WA Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of WA
2010
Native, dianne tanzer gallery + projects , MelbourneBora, LeMUR Association, Paris, FRANCE
2009
(ab) original, dianne tanzer gallery, Melbourne
Wallpaper, Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne
Message Sticks, dianne tanzer gallery Melbourne
Selected Group Exhbitions
2017
Personal Structures, 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
The End of Time. The Beginning of Time, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne
2016
Sovereignty, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
XIII Bienale de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador
Jogja Calling, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney
Wall Drawings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France
Painting. More Painting, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
If People Powered Radio:40 Years of 3CR, Gertrude Contemporary
St Art Festival, Delhi, India
2015
Tarnanthi Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Murruwaygu, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Monster Pop!, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Personal Structures: Crossing Borders, Palazzo Mora, Venice, Italy
Vivid Festival, Sydney
Chromatic Syncopation, First Draft, Sydney
Cut It Out, Urban Nation Gallery, Berlin
2014
Side Project, Australian Academy of Design, Curated by Michael Peck, Melbourne
2013
Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gertrude Studios 2013, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne
City of Albany Art Prize, Albany Town Hall, Western Australia
Vivid Memories – An Aboriginal Art History, Musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France
In the Public Interest, curated by Leon Vab de Graaff and Victor Griss, Counihan Gallery, Moreland
Trust the 2%, site specific commission, My Country I still Call Australia Home – Contemporary Art from
Black Australia, Queensland Art Gallery-Gallery of Modern Art,
2012
Gertrude Studios Artists Exhibition, Gertrude Contemporary, Fitzroy
Passing Parade, Curated by Joel Mu, Alaska Projects, Sydney
Omission, Curated by Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
Signal 8: Storm, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Archibald Prize Finalist, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy
2011
Linden Innovators Program, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
Gallery Salihara, in conjunction with the Australian Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia
WATTLE, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2010
Signal 8, Salon Show, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Bingo Night in the Promised Land, New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles
Australian Pavilion Shanghai, World Expo Shanghai, (Victorian representative)
The Grass is Greener, Paradise Hills Gallery Melbourne
White Hot, dianne tanzer gallery + projects, Melbourne
2009
Nothing out of the Ordinary, curated by Lisa Keen + Olivia Poloni, Nellie Castan Gallery,
Melbourne
Environments: The Printmaking Summer Residency, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne
Octopus 9 – I Forget to Forget, curated by Stephen Gilchrist (NGV),
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
Rapprochement, curated by Reko Rennie, Manningham Gallery, Victoria
2008
Anonymous Drawings #9, Blutenweiss, Berlin
Gulpa Ngarwul, Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne
Victorian Indigenous Art Awards – Finalist and Winner Boscia Gallery
Exhibition Launch, PaRing Gallery, KPMG Melbourne
Melbourne International Stencil Festival, Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Abbotsford
Black & White – Advance Australia Fair?, Famous When Dead, West Melbourne
Black & White with Shades of Grey, Pigment Gallery, Melbourne
Small Works 2008, Brunswick St Gallery, Melbourne
Indigenous Bayside Perspectives, Bayside City Council, Melbourne
Moving Images – Images of Reconcilation, Manningham Gallery, Victoria
Famous When Dead, Famous When Dead, Melbourne
Linden Postcard Show, LINDEN Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda
2007
Nguurramban: From Where We Are – curated by Jirra Lulla Harvey, LINDEN Centre
for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda
Melbourne International Stencil Festival - Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Perth
Eastbank Centre, Shepparton
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat
Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale
Victorian Indigenous Art Awards, Koorie Heritage Trust
Commisions / Public Sculpture:
2017
Visible Invisible, Lyon Housemuseum, Kew, Australia
2016
The Standard Hotel, Down Town and West Hollywood, Los Angeles
Urban Art Projects, New Quay, Melbourne
The Light in Winter, Federation Square, Melbourne
Vivid Sydney, Opera House Sails, Sydney
White Night, Federation Square, Melbourne
St Art Foundation, Delhi, India
2015
Arbory, Arbory Bar and Eatery, Melbourne, Australia
2014
Once Upon a Time in the West, Form Gallery, Western Australia
2012
LIMS Sculptures, La Trobe University, Bundoora
Streetware, ‘Always was, always will be’ City of Sydney, Sydney
Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum, Virginia, USA
‘REMEMBER ME’, 5 X 5 Project, Washington DC, USA
OA NDN, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, USA
2011
Melbourne Laneways Commission, Cocker Alley
2010
Open Weekend, Public Programme, Art Gallery of New South Wales
The 3CR Mural Project 2010, funded by Arts Victoria and the Victorian Government
through the Community Support Fund, the City of Yarra and JBSeed
Boyd Street School/Studio Commission, City of Melbourne
Collections:
National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of Western Australia
RMIT University
Kluge-Ruhe Institute, University of Virginia, USA
Koorie Heritage Trust
ArtBank
City of Yarra
Wesfarmers
New Contemporary Art Museum, in Nanjing, Jiangsu, CHINA
Private collectionsWebsite
Showing the single artwork