Renée A. Fox creates mixed media paintings based on natural found objects. The paintings use traditional painting and drawing techniques to portray a sensually feminine, idealized interpretation of nature, often by changing singular floral subjects into sexualized icons. Born in Frederick, Maryland, Renee attended the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C. and graduated from Otis College of Art and Design after relocating to Los Angeles, California.  The works featured above were included in our annual Nature Show.  Our 2012 exhibit curated by Charity Burnett and Liz Gordon was entitled “The Four Seasons of Flora and Spice“.

She has exhibited internationally and completed several independent curatorial projects including “Reclaiming”, 2003, an exhibition of Otis alumni at the historic location of the old Otis administrative building in downtown, LA and “Reclaiming: Intergeneration”, same location with Jenée Misraje and Kate Harding. Fox is currently director of the Beacon Arts Building in Inglewood, California and organizes the annual Inglewood Open Studios.

INSECTICIDE AN ART EXHIBITION May 15 – June 22, 2010

ARTIST STATEMENT

Pseudocopulation series Pseudocopulation series 1 of 5
Longclubbed Wasp Orchid and Proxima Wasp 2010
13″ x 13″
Chiloglottis Trilabra, the “Long Clubbed Wasp Orchid”, takes advantage of the Thynnine Wasp male’s paternal
tendencies. The male wasp is known to abduct the female of its species, and feed her so that he may be allowed to procreate, and his parental characteristics passed on to the young. Male wasps are fooled into thinking the orchid is a female wasp by its appearance, release of the female wasp’s pheromone and the flower’s height. When the male wasp grabs hold of the flower and attempts to fly away with its prize, the orchid snaps the wasp forward, successfully transferring pollen to the wasp so that it will pollinate the next “female” it tries to capture.

Pseudocopulation series 2 of 5 – Mirror Orchid and
Campsoscolia Ciliata Wasp 2010
13″ x 13″
Ophyrus Speculum, “Mirror Orchid” seduces male Campsoscolia Ciliata Wasps the same way that Ophyrus Sphegodes, “Early Spider Orchid” does. Both orchids produce more of the chemically identical female bee pheromone in order to win the male bees over their female counterparts.

Pseudocopulation series 3 0f 5 – Bee Orchid and
Longhorned Bee 2010
13″ x 13″
Ophrys Apifera, the “Bee Orchid”, takes advantage of the male Longhorned Bee’s competitive nature. The male bees will sometimes burrow into nests where the females will be born. They are much larger than the females, so that they have the best chance of winning a fight over a female. Ophyrs Apifera blooms are large enough to accommodate the large males and appear low to the ground, near nests.

Pseudocopulation series 4 0f 5 – Fly Orchid and Golden
Diggerfly Wasp 2010
13″ x 13″

Ophrys Insectifera, also known as “Fly Orchid”, imitates the appearance of the female Digger
Wasp with bright colors and a similar shape. Since Male Digger Wasps only mate close to the ground, the orchids also flower low to the ground. The males are fooled into thinking these flowers are their prospective mates and pollinate the plants as they go from flower to flower.

Pseudocopulation series 5 0f 5 – Early Spider Orchid and
Andrena Nigroaenea Bee 2010
13″ x 13″
Ophrys Sphegodes, “Early Spider Orchid”, attracts the male Adrena Nigroaenea Bee with its bright colors that mimic the female bee. Stranger still, this orchid omits the exact pheromone that the virgin female bee possesses, to attract her mates. Due to more concentrated amounts of the pheromone, the male bees actually prefer the flower to the virgin female of its own species.

INSECTICIDE ARTIST STATEMENT
My inspiration is finding visual and metaphorical relationships to the human body in plants and flowers, addressing an objectified physical identity of beauty, which can be perceived as grotesque or taboo. These insect paintings explore the unusual intimate relationships of certain species of Orchids and insects.