What is your art practice? What themes do you explore and why?

I paint, draw and make prints. My work is concerned with social and art histories, memory, memorial and magic. I love a research project and histories (which may be personal, societal or mythic) often play a role in my inspiration. Recent subjects have included an inherited archive of family photographs, resistance to authoritarian politics and the imagined mythology of the beginning of creation.

Which artists and movements historically have influenced you?

I am a big fan of art history. There are so many artists that I constantly look at: Paula Rego, Velazquez, Kiki Smith, Michael Armitage, Pre Rapphaelite painters, Hokusai, Hiroshige. The list goes on and on…

How important do you think it is that ArtCan is able to offer opportunities for exhibiting outside of a formal gallery structure?

The thing is, I think that all art is ‘completed’ by the viewer. Therefore, it needs to be seen to be realised. Galleries are great, but not all bodies of work are commercially viable, so commercial galleries are not always a good option for showing work. So, yes, I think it is very important that ArtCan is able to offer opportunities for exhibiting work outside of formal gallery structures.

Do you have to balance your art practice with other work?

I am in the incredibly fortunate position at the moment where I do not have other work. I am enjoying it while it lasts.

What would be your advice for artists just starting out?

I am not sure I am qualified to answer that. I am always and forever just starting out myself.

What are your next big plans as an artist?

I hope to find a museum space for exhibiting my series of paintings inspired by the ‘Last Witch in Europe’.

Website: www.reneecallahan.com 
Instagram: @reneecallahanart