Reuel Rendon’s solo presentation is an expansion of ideas, fantasies, and random realizations that translate into surreal and abstract expressions. The pairing of paintings and mixed media works, alternatively viewed as individual pieces, becomes a conceptual pairing of the rational and the irrational tendencies of the human psyche that manifest in the composition of his imagery. In Simultaneous Existence, Rendon views abstraction as the subsequent and underlying impression embedded in the surreal or the unreasonable state of existence. 

The surreality in Rendon’s paintings, mostly representational, derives from his deep-seated thoughts that reveal the staggering complexities of the mind. Such personal significations are then simplified into the universal language of abstraction, employing simple but imposing geometric shapes and splotches of paint flattened under acrylic sheets and onto wood panels. However, he constructs his abstraction outside automatism and operates with a more intentional approach in rendering an image, moreover, in visualizing complex mental and creative processes. 

Rendon’s abstraction echoes the aesthetic qualities and visual elements found in his dreamlike representations. The narrative in Dinner with a View (a painting paired with the mixed media piece Momentum) — a slab of meat, a bottle of wine, and a scenic view– is reminiscent of the time he served in the hospitality industry. Connotations of morality, social conformity, and segregation between good and evil (as symbolized by the barren and lush plateaus) are discerned in the works Divergent and Eclipse. Depicting a still life painting of fruits seemingly floating in the sky, he hints at the human nature to desire for a better life in Elevated Life and Misty Trifecta. The repeated patterns of square in Square Root of Sixteen, and the lack of it in Infinity compress, signify various manifestations of both infiniteness and void. 

“To ask questions is to desire to know, like in dreams, the unconscious can give way to multiple meanings.” Rendon’s body of work uncovers realities, suppressed desires and recesses of the mind to evoke the force within all humans and the inner world that remains shrouded in mystery. 

— Words by James Luigi Tana