Artist | Renée Tay | Resides | United States |
Website | artwanted.com/reneetay | Medium | Vintage toys Assemblage Sculpture |
Representing Gallery | LA Luz De Jesus Gallery Los Angeles, CA. USA Union Gallery NOLA French Quarter New Orleans, LA. USA Parlor Gallery Ashbury Park, NJ.USA Trash Lamb Gallery San Diego, CA. USA Hive Gallery Los Angeles, CA. USA SPACE / 宇宙 Kolding, Denmark bG Gallery Santa Monica, CA USA Stranger Factory Gallery Algodones, NM. USA | missreneetay@gmail.com | |
Follow the Artist | Instagram | Facebook | Themes | Devils Naughty Teapots Robots Flying Saucers Mermaids Baby Dolls Animals |
About the artist
Renée Tay is born 1960 in San Diego, California USA and currently living along the coast of Point Loma in San Diego with my boyfriend Tayloe. She loves to travel together, especially Hawaii.
She has entertained a variety of careers that includes working in wardrobe for the San Diego Opera and traveling Broadway shows, costumed and made props for Mattel, manager for Disney, art studio manager, fish hatchery pond mucker, sold International folk art and jewelry, manager and buyer at the San Diego Symphony. In 2009, Renée create a position of Resident Artist for Fiesta De Reyes in the San Diego State Historic Park and she continue in this position to date.
Artwork Themes & Subject Matter
There is a heart hugging and tugging love that is the soul of Renée Tay Vintage Toy Assemblage Sculptures. Once loved and forgotten dolls and toys are given a new life to be treasured and adored again. This is the core of her work.
Once in a while she come across a doll that was so loved that her hair maybe is in wild abandonment, wearing a faded frock and with one eye hazy. These special ones have brought her to tears when they arrive, and she hug them and tell them that they are loved again. This embarrasses her maturity and embraces her forever child inside. “These dolls I keep as they are to watch me and hopefully not tremble as I perform mad scientist surgery on toys….snickering”.
The need for enjoying the journey in life is entertained with the interesting quest for vintage toys and collectibles. Renée’s favorite toys are from her 1960’s childhood, but she does work with a variety of toys between the 1940’s and later. Kewpie dolls, baby dolls, rubber squeaky toys, pull toys, cartoon character banks, animal figurines, ceramic teapots and an endless array of toys and collectibles. Her favorite place to search for toys was while vacationing in New York and digging in the muck of an old dump on Jamaica Bay in NYC, alas it is closed now. But the old toys that she pulled out and have made the best monsters for her Slumber Monster series. Renée find searching for materials to be entertaining, fulfilling and satisfying and more often than not…. surprising as to what she come across.
The process of taking toys and collectibles made out of a variety of materials with the end result havjng the illusion of porcelain is so involved. Cleaning, cutting, smashing, attaching and sculpting with Apoxie Sculpt and then 20 to 30 layers of gesso, paint, age washes and high gloss clear coat.
Renée Tay has a growing series of Vintage Toy Assemblage Sculptures that include Naughty Teapots, Slumber Monsters, Kewpie Devils, Robots with Cats, Whale Tea Party, Sea Fairies, Armchairs and more.
Upcoming Exhibition
When | Exhibition | Gallery |
August 2024 | Group exhibition: ‘Everything but the Kitchen Sync’ | LA Luz De Jesus Gallery Los Angeles, CA. USA |
September 2024 | Group exhibition: ‘Urban Lines and Playfulness’ | SPACE / 宇宙 Kolding, Denmark |
October 2024 | Group exhibition: ‘Kunst for Alle – The Art Fair‘ | SPACE / 宇宙 Kolding, Denmark |
CV
Education
Commercial Art Association Degree 1980 San Diego Community College
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Gestalt Show, bG Gallery Spectrum, Santa Monica, CA. United States
Lost and Found Assemblage Exposition Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Toy Makers from Planet Earth Show, Stranger Factory Gallery, Algodones, MN. United States
Roasted Show, Trash Lamb Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
2023
They Came from Planet Rainbow Sparkles Show, Clutter Magazine Gallery, Beacon, NY. United States
Everything but the Kitchen Sync Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Cute Circus-Killer Clowns Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2022
Everything but the Kitchen Sync Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2021
Everything but the Kitchen Sync Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Odds of March Show, La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA. United States
2020
Master Blasters of Sculpture Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Everything but the Kitchen Sync Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Tarot Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Group Show, The Studio Door Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
2019
The Pagan Holiday Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Aqua Art Miami-Represented, BoxHeart Gallery, Miami, FL. United States
Mermaid Art Show, La Bodega Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
Master Blasters of Sculpture Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Dia De Los Muertos Skull Art Show, La Bodega Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
A Dirty Filthy Show, La Bodega Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
Portal: Surrealist and Mystical Art Exhibit, bG Gallery Spectrum, Santa Monica, CA. United States
Skull and Skeleton in Art, The Gallery at Lakeland, Lakeland, OH. United States
Human Behavior, The Secret Gallery, Astoria, OR. United States
Friducha Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Moon Burn Show, Black Sheep Gallery, Burbank, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, Slushbox Gallery,West Palm Beach, FL. United States
Spectrum Gestalt Show, bG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. United States
Pastel Nightmares, Black Sheep Gallery, Burbank, CA. United States
Laluzapooluza Show, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Erotica Themed Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Master Blasters of Sculpture Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Designer-Con-Represented, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2018
Mermaid Art Show, La Bodega Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
Dia De Los Muertos Skull Art Show, La Bodega Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
Sexy Beast Group Art Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anniversary Show, MF Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. United States
Anniversary Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Erotica Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2017
MF Toy Show, MF Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. United States
Winter Wonderland Show, The Broker’s Building Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States
Master Blaster’s of Sculpture Show, Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Dia De Los Muertos Skull Art Show, La Bodega Gallery, San Diego, CA. United States