The work: Renée Pastore, universe, 2021. Mesh, plaster and gel-medium, 20 x 8cm. Courtesy: the artist.
Through a queer and feminist lens, Renée Pastore invites us to explore both the beauty and grotesqueness found within the human body. Using a range of flesh-like materials such as shiny fixatives and slimy plastics, Pastore translates the luscious, sensual and somewhat abject qualities of the human body to explore themes of identity, sexuality and bodily processes. “In my work fluidity and ferociousness are examined, showing a body that is vulnerable and searching.” By creating sculptures resembling skin, organs and fluids, Pastore creates a harmonious dissonance between abjection and beauty. While her work seeks to act as a fluid and non-binary act of self discovery, she invites us to reflect upon our own relationship with ourselves. Pastore is in her final year of a Bachelor of Contemporary Art at the University of South Australia, Adelaide.