Renee Stout

at Sean Scully Studio

June 2-30, 2017
RENÉE STOUT: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
June 2 – June 30, 2017
Sean Scully Studio
447 West 17th Street (and 10th Avenue)
Monday – Friday, 10am-6pm
Press buzzer for entrance.

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Stout studied painting at Carnegie Mellon University where she received her BFA in 1980. After moving to Washington, D.C. in 1985, Stout became fascinated by Hoodoo rituals which are notoriously taboo yet deeply entrenched in her African roots. By looking to the uncharted territory of these ancient belief systems and exploring her African heritage, Stout seeks to make sense of the world in which we live. Due to the complexity of her creative vision, Stout has long felt painting to be limiting and instead investigated the endless possibilities of mixed media work. In order to delve deep into the spiritual Hoodoo realm, the artist has developed an alter ego, fortune-teller and healer, Fatima Mayfield. Her use of this fictitious character has created a dynamic narrative that offers insight into the spiritual presence lingering in the air that surrounds us and challenges the viewer to explore alternative perspectives of experiencing the world. Upon invitation to exhibit her work at Sean Scully’s Chelsea studio, Stout has chosen to revisit painting...Diving head first into what she has termed the “Sean Scully Challenge,” Stout has surrendered herself to the poetic possibilities of abstract painting. Her new body of work, enigmatic and fearless, emboldens us to navigate our abstract reality and to submit to the spiritual forces at work. Renée Stout has been the recipient of several awards including; the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award (1991 and 1999), the Anonymous Was a Woman Award (1999), the David C. Driskell Prize in African American Art and Art History (2010), and the Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize (2012). Her work can be found in the collections of several museums across the U.S. including, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, San Francisco, CA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC; and Baltimore Art Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; and The Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Netherlands.