Chanelle René

About the Artist

Chanelle René is a contemporary painter and mural artist based in South Jersey. Her use of vibrant colors and painterly brushstrokes in oils and mixed media often celebrates the feminine figure to create narrative and engaging works from original canvases to large-scale murals. As a self-taught artist, she embraced the ‘pandemic pause’ to transition from a 20+ year career in digital marketing. Chanelle has exhibited nationally and internationally with works held in private and public collections.

From left to right: #Unbothered, Acrylic, pastel, spray paint on canvas, 18 x 18 in, 2022 | Within Reach, Acrylic mixed media on canvas, 40 x 30 in, 2023 | You Glow Girl, Oil / mixed media on canvas, 30 x 24 in, 2021.

“I want to just represent seeing more of myself in the art space and also letting them know that they are beautiful and they are meant to be seen and admired.”

Chanelle René, 2023

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

René describes herself as a figurative painter. As you can see from the picture to the left, she loves to work with vibrant colors on canvas. More recently, René has expanded her work to include murals. 

Like many, René’s life stopped and started on a new pathway during the 2020 pandemic. The time at home on lockdown gave her a lot of time to focus on creating art. As René continued to grow as an artist, she found that she wanted to start sharing her vibrant creations with the public. By the next year, into the pandemic, René started to publicly show her art for the first time at the Ocean City Juried Show. Her work made an impression on the judges and she was awarded best of show, bolstering her confidence in her work and the career trajectory in the arts that is still going strong.

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

René always had a knack for art and was even told that she could draw fairly well. She took a few art classes growing up but it never was something that she was planning to do or pursue. However, art was never really on her radar as a career until later in life so, this is all new. 

Studio Tour

The South Jersey Cultural Alliance presents the South Jersey Artist Studio Tour to highlight the diversity of artists throughout the region through studio interviews that showcase the practices, processes, and presence of artists based in South Jersey.

René’s installation is called Bitter/Sweet and it is inspired by the James Candy Company, where it was located before the temporary exhibit closed in early December 2023. 

Upon entering the space, René “kind of knew immediately that that was the direction” she wanted to go. And as she continued her work amongst the other artists contributing to the space she continued to be inspired by all of the found materials in the space. The wallpaper was all done with wrapping paper that was already within the space and then she hand-wrote the bittersweet in repeat on a lot of the pieces and pinned those on the wall. As she continued to craft the Bitter/Sweet corner of her space in the exhibit, René knew she wanted to use the baker’s racks to do a cellophane painting (pictured below).

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

“As you can see, there are portraits kind of playing on that bittersweet. You see a lot of candy pieces but it is also up to the viewer to interpret what bittersweet means to them.”

Chanelle René, 2023

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

For René, aesthetically in the space, the sweet is soft and aerial. You can see that “aesthetically, sweet is soft and aerial” in the space according to René. In contrast, the bitter is “bold and expressive”. Visually, you can both see and feel that in the writing and some of the expressions within René’s portraits.

In fact, if you look closely at the paper on the wall of the exhibit, you can find that the wall showcasing the four portraits painted on trays is described by René as “kind of undone” with her vision of the space to have the paper on the wall to be intentionally torn and unfinished.

“I think it is about duality and you can’t have one without the other. So you can’t enjoy the sweet because there is always that opposite, of bitter.”

Chanelle René, 2023

A lot of René's work centers around female-based portraits depicting primarily women of color since that focus has always spoken to her as a self-taught artist. As an artist, she loves capturing not only the beauty and admiration owed to women of color but also providing much-needed representation in the artistic field from her unique lens. René loves capturing all of this within her work when she is within the limits provided by a different artistic project and this is showcased in her work at the Arteriors exhibit.

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

Her approach to Arteriors is an explorative one, as she “always sees it as a time to play and explore.” In the past, she has not had a chance to do a lot of expressive work and during this piece she wanted to be tongue and cheek but also on the edge. She “knew she wanted to eat candy, consume candy but have varied expressions on their faces” in regards to the pieces she created for the exhibit.

According to René, “Even the ones that aren’t eating candy, you get that full face expression and leave it up to the viewer to interpret what that means to them.” From her interpretation, she “can look at these pieces, and know what is bitter and sweet” but she especially loved talking to people coming through the space where they would provide their own unique thoughts and personal connection of what resonated with them as they engaged with her work. I wanted to be that edge of sexy and flirtatious as well. And wanted to represent the eating of the candy but wanted to also feel that the women were empowered."

They are not just objects but they are the ones dictating the narrative that yes, this is me and unapologetically here I am.

Chanelle René, 2023

Decompression is important for René, as someone who struggles with anxiety. She found that her art was a way that she could lose herself in the process of creation and not focus her anxieties. Even though occasionally she catches herself being a perfectionist at the end of the day, art allows her the freedom to be creative and release that nervous energy. For her, art is her outlet and that is crucial to her personal practice in addition to its impact on others, whether it is a piece they purchase or view they are connected to and it has an impactful ripple effect from there.

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

For her portrait series of the installation, Bitter/Sweet, René used found baking sheets in the space, which she later found were used to bake macaroons during the opening at Arteriors. She commented that she found it “ kind of interesting because when I think about the candy store as salt water taffy and fudge. But I was like, what do they bake here?” For her, this was a fun fact to find out. However, when she first came upon these baking sheets, René just “knew that when I found the pans, they were going to be paintings.” To her artistic eye, they made the perfect canvases so she made sure to scrub them well and started working right away.

Yet, bringing attention to the cellophane paintings that are in the installation is all about bringing the installation out from the wall and bringing it into the space. The baker’s racks were found in the space and René had always wanted to do cellophane wrap as a piece since she has recently gotten into spray painting as she has been painting outside a lot. She had previously seen a technique used on painting on cellophane and as soon as she saw the racks she knew she was going to do that. However, as she worked on this exhibit she carefully considered the duality of each piece, “I’m considering the bitter and the one behind me is the sweet.”

The full transcript of René's interview can be found  here .

If you want to support future programming, stop by our online store to purchase a limited edition print, sticker, or a set of René’s work.

To get in touch with René, you can visit her  website , reach her email at  hello@chanellerene.com , or find her on Instagram at @beingchanellerene.

Cape May County

Bitter/Sweet was exhibited at ARTeriors at The James in Atlantic City in December 2023. René’s work can also be found at the following exhibits:

  • Line In The Sand, Carroll Gallery, Cape May MAC.
    • On View: Now - March 26, 2024 
  • Jersey Girls, AAHMSNJ Newtonville, MLK Jr Center.
    • Reception: Saturday, February 10, 2 - 4 pm.
    • On View: February 1 - April 30, 2024 
  • Transversing Nostalgia, Taplin Gallery, Arts Council of Princeton.
    • Reception: Saturday, February 10, 3 - 5 pm.
    • On View: February 10 - March 9, 2024

South Jersey Artist Studio Tour (SJAST) is a pilot project created by the South Jersey Cultural Alliance and funded by the Humanities Lab Project through the New Jersey Council for the Humanities with General Operating support from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts.

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René. 

Photography by  Tilly Garcia . Artwork courtesy of the artist, Chanelle René.