Ralph "Ren" Dillard
Atlanta, GA
When did you get your start in Art?
I have been an artist for as long as I can remember. As a matter of fact, my earliest actual memory is an image of me drawing a picture of a goat of some kind on the phone book in my parents’ bedroom. I literally can't remember anything before that.
How would you describe your artistic style?
Visionary/ Afrofuturism/Surrealism
Where do you draw your artistic inspiration?
Most of my work is centered around the idea of Unlearning. By unlearning I mean shedding a lot of the misconceptions about life and the nature of reality we absorb from other people. We are mostly unaware of the different ways this social conditioning impacts our day to day decisions and value systems. My work is about helping people to break through the conditioning we layer on throughout most of our lives. My series have different themes but all of them fit under the umbrella of "The Art of Unlearning”.
What was the first artwork you ever sold?
The first significant sell I ever had was a piece titled "RIZE". It was a 30X40 oil on canvas silhouette of a woman in a meditative posture with her chakra system fully aligned and illuminated. RIZE was done in a truly afro futuristic style combining eastern philosophy with afrocentricity. I sold it to a vegetarian restaurant in Philadelphia back in 2008. I took a picture of the $1000 check and sent the image of the check to my mom like "SEE - I told you"!
What has been the most memorable response to your work?
One of the most memorable responses to my work would have to be my first art opening at SMILE GALLERY in Philadelphia PA. A good friend of mine is a novice film maker so he decided to capture the entire night! He was able to get great quotes from a lot of the guest and other artist about my work. It really made me feel good to hear them discuss what my paintings meant to them in an indirect way when I was not in their immediate space. He condensed the footage down to an 8-minute video that he posted on YouTube so family members and friends who were not there got a chance to see it as well. Some of the comments were pretty incredible.
What are some of the challenges you have faced as an artist?
The challenges I face are probably pretty typical. Just the heavy lifting of getting out of my creative space in my studio and getting my art in front of people is pretty daunting at times. Most artist want to create the work and let someone else sell and market it. But when you are a one man show you have to wear multiple hats that sometimes don't have anything to do with the passion of creating the art itself. Maintaining a strong social media presence has made marketing a lot easier for artist but ultimately you still have to shake the right hands and attempt to mingle with the right people that can propel your work forward. It took me a while to learn how to even talk about my paintings without sounding pretentious to myself. It is a constant learning process but I am getting better at it.
On stepping out beyond fear:
I am an introvert by nature. Anxiety is always a challenge for an introvert. Creatives want to be in a creative space all of the time. I personally have to force myself to swap focus and allow myself to be uncomfortable. So much so that now I use comfort itself as a marker. Whenever I feel like I am in a space where I am in a good space with my work I use it as a sign that I need to seek out my next challenge in whatever for that comes.
“As an emerging artist - I want to be uncomfortable for as long as it takes to reach my artistic goals. I feel like if I stay present and always slightly uncomfortable artistically I am headed in the right direction.”
Who is your favorite artist?
Salvador Dali and Bo Bartlett are two of my favorite artist although if you had asked me this question yesterday or even tomorrow the answer might be different. I love both of their styles because they communicate to the viewer something much deeper than the aesthetic quality of the image. Their work always contains a deeper meaning underneath the surface. That is what I am working to develop in my approach to the craft. Fusing the aesthetic and meaningful in my work is important to me. Dali and Bartlett are both masters at it.
On Current project:
Well I am currently working on a new series titled NewBeings/Nubians. The series aim is to give a visual to what true black liberation might LOOK like. We always hear a lot about all of the problems we face collectively. There are book shelves full of information on our challenges. I am one who believes that in order to have a clear direction you must first crystallize the image of what you want or where you want to go. Hopefully my work will contribute to that imagery. What would our people look like a century from now after we have solved most of the issues that have plagued us for so long?
What’s next?
What I am really excited about in the near future is a collection of late summer shows highlighting emerging artist that will present me with an opportunity to put on my curator hat. The show is titled The Exile Art Show. Exile is an eclectic collection of self-taught artists who live and work in the Atlanta area. We are dedicated to building direct relationships between artists and a fresh demographic of new art collectors! We recognized that there are two groups within the art community that rarely interact. The first group consist of a huge number of people who love distinctive, original art but are intimidated by the idea of even entering a gallery let alone buying something. The second group is what we like to call exile artists! Exile artists are extremely innovative, highly developed, visual artist who need a simple bridge to the first group. Mostly self-taught, we see this type of uninterrupted originality as an asset. All of the artists involved have worked in their respective mediums for years and overtime each has developed unique styles. The entire art community benefits from a group of artist who push the envelope outside of the traditional art establishment. The Exile Art Show wants to build a platform to help emerging artists get their art out into the world. I have never curated a show of another artist work so this will be a new challenge for me.
On Dream project?
My dream project would be to collaborate with a collection of nationally known spoken word artist and have them do interpretive poems about my work. We could morph the project into an anthology and even possibly a tour around the country and abroad. I like the idea of a collection of poets and artist traveling around the country together Jack Kerouac style. I have that project on my vision board at home. I am definitely going to make that happen.
What quote or mantra do you live your life by?
UNLEARN
If we think about learning to have two components: one that leads to tool building (information and knowledge) and another that leads to wisdom and transformation (subjective learning), unlearning is extraordinarily important component of the second option. I am truly a philosopher at heart.
For more on this artist, please visit renswork.com and follow on social media @RENSWORKDOTCOM