Rene Gonzalez

Artist Rene Gonzalez’s figurative paintings, with their vibrant tones and rich detail, weave together his love of the natural world, animals, and symbolic elements to create a captivating artistic universe.

A Universe of Symbolism and Narrative

At the heart of Rene Gonzalez’s work lies a deep sense of storytelling, unfolding through theatrical compositions where animal figures inhabit lush, intricately rendered forests, that at times also feature man-made structures. The result is a dreamlike, mysterious world that draws the viewer in with its harmonious and evocative use of colour.

Rene Gonzalez draws on archetypes and symbols from global folklore, mythology, and legends, while also finding inspiration in everyday influences such as music, fashion, and especially cinema. His work occasionally references art history, exploring diverse sources from the Renaissance and Modernism to Flemish tapestries, Pop Art, and the English Arts and Crafts movement. Aesthetically, his contemporary paintings are distinguished by a strong fairy tale-like quality, reminiscent of imageries that span from children’s book illustrations to medieval mysticism, to mysterious woods in horror films.

“A sense of storytelling is central to my practice, stemming from my early years painting graffiti and murals. Each piece acts as a scene within a larger narrative, evoking an atmosphere where nature becomes both a setting and a guide. The fox, in particular, has become a significant figure in my work—an emblem of resilience, adaptation, and liminality.” Rene Gonzalez

Rene Gonzalez’s creative process: emotions and colours

Rene Gonzalez describes how his artistic ideas are rooted in his emotions: “At the start of my creative process, I try to lock into an emotion, something very personal to me, and I’ll try to get inside that moment. Usually, something feels vital to me, like a deep sadness or sense of wonder, and I’ll follow that thought as it starts to reveal imagery to me.”

The colours and harmony of their combinations are crucial, as they evoke the emotion and atmosphere that the artist wishes to convey. The contemporary painter‘s compositions are treated as “a platform for the different symbolic elements that communicate the original idea to intermingle”. Rene Gonzalez works mainly with acrylic colours, but he also understands how to combine a range of techniques, including oil and spray paint. During the preparatory phase, he uses collage, illustration image software, and photography to test different compositional elements.

A journey combining Latin American heritage and Western culture

Rene Gonzalez’s personal history is essential in understanding the development of his work. Born in 1983 in Montreal, Canada, he is the son of political refugees who fled the civil war in El Salvador. He moved with his sister to Costa Rica, his mother’s native country, when he was ten. It was at this point that Rene Gonzalez began drawing and creating his own characters and stories, as access to his previous sources of imaginary stimulation, the cinema and his treasured comic books became limited. As a teenager, he became involved in the local art scene as a graffiti artist and muralist. The artist then turned to painting on canvas, adopting this medium as his preferred mode of expression. With the support of a group of patrons and a mentor, he decided to pursue his dream by enrolling at an art school in a major international city.

Rene Gonzalez arrived in London in 2012 and graduated from the City & Guilds of London Art School three years later. The impact of London, and more generally of the European art world, was profound: the artist was overwhelmed by a multitude of visual information. He marvelled at museums, galleries, classical and modern architecture and works of art. This immersion in Western culture, art and education, combined with the high-quality training provided by City & Guilds, proved decisive in his artistic approach and even forged his identity as an artist and as an individual.

Since graduating, Rene Gonzalez has exhibited in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. He came second in the 2013 Art Gemini Prize, and in 2015, he won the Clyde & Co Blank Canvas Art Prize, creating a twenty-metre painting. In 2018, he was selected to participate in the Jackson’s Art Prize.