Paula Rendino Biography

Reflecting on my career as an artist, I am most proud of three of the “veins” of my art career. The first, is my love of materials, and in the deeper sense, “materia” – the essence of all things. The second, is my approach to the world by creating art as a means to connect to “spirit” such as my labyrinth installation and ritual. The third has been exploring and celebrating the sensuality of being a woman in her many stages of life: mother, healer and “diviner”- maker of rituals and source of prayers.

For the first  art impetus or “vein”, “materia” can describe the physical material, such as marble, clay, oil paint or wax, or the synergistic “magic” that happens when a camera captures light, form, textures and “mood” on film.

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As a child, little did I know that my love of the smell of a wax crayon and of a beeswax candle, would parlay into a healthy obsession with wax.  In college, studying in Florence, Italy and later in New York City, I created wax paintings and continued with wax as medium. In this period from the late 1980s to 1990s, I found the artistic need and desire to have elements of the work phosphoresce, when most other elements were in darkness, leaving the viewer to ponder the silence the absence of light can bring.

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I ran into “technical problems” as the heavy phosphorescent pigment could not be suspended in wax; this I was told by professionals in the field and also what I discovered in my studio. From my bull-headedness, and despite my poor knowledge of chemistry, and with some “out-of-the-box” thinking, I ended up co-inventing and receiving three patents for crayon marking materials, one that was the first phosphorescent (glow-in-the-dark) crayon.

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My series of Environments of Phosphorescent Paintings and Sculptures, Light and Sound were typically exhibited in an environment of original music and changing light-most unique and “high tech” when created. The lights for the installations and performances were “slaved” to the music and would shut off at times, leaving the viewer in a room of utter darkness, with the only light illuminating from the phosphorescent crystal pigment of the painting and sculptures.

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During this period, I discovered that taking photos of the installations were another element of the works of art, installations, and performances. This prompted me to become more involved in photography as an art form. Today, it is intriguing to me that the “otherworldly” feeling to the photos can only be achieved with ultraviolet blue-black lights and black lights- today’s photoshop cannot duplicate or ‘fake” these images.

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From this place in my artist path, my photography became  the “art form.”  I became interested in capturing ritual and movement “performed” by myself utilizing timers on my camera.  Whether photographing my entire body, as in my Pregnancy Series, or Breastfeeding Series, or parts of my body, such as my hands and feet, my impetus was melded into the craft of photography.

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Having grown up watching film noir and being on numerous movie sets, including working on “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” filmed on location in France, I became intrigued with capturing “critical” and “poignant” moment in time. I also chose to “sculpt” with light that would create a dramatic effect, and utilized ARRI lighting commonly used for film making. I found with the ARRI lighting, I could create subtle denseness of the shadows which created more psychological drama.  As the “model” was me, I used a timer on my camera for each frame.

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While pregnant with my first born (1997), I boldly created a black and white photography Pregnancy Series (Tab H) and explored pregnancy juxtaposed to fairy tales and other writings. As an example,  Rapunzel let down her hair from the tower to her lover after all.  Later in the Breastfeeding Series, I again are the “model”.  This time, I explored the power women have being able to nourish another and the power behind the breast full of milk, as shown in ancient art and Early Christian Art but considered “taboo” in the Puritanical American culture then, and even today.