Reko Rennie is an interdisciplinary Australian artist who explores personal and political narratives through the lens of his Aboriginal (Kamilaroi) heritage, alongside broader cultural themes around power, identity, memory and history. Rennie’s distinctive visual language negotiates a hybrid form of contested binaries – visible and invisible, public and private, urban and traditional – to provoke discussion of cultural and social visibility in a contemporary environment. A commitment to lush, bold colours, refined technique and slick presentation grounds Rennie’s practice in the present, confidently affirming the ongoing presence and self-determination of Aboriginal identity.
Informed by 1970–80s American graffiti culture, Rennie started his practice as a teenage graffiti artist, finding his voice on the surfaces of Melbourne’s city buildings, trains and laneways. Since his first solo shows in 2009, Rennie has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally, including in the United States of America, China, France, Italy and Germany. He has been included in many important curated museum exhibitions and biennials in Australia such as MY COUNTRY, I STILL CALL AUSTRALIA HOME: Contemporary Art from Black Australia, Queensland Art Gallery (2013); Sovereignty, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2016); Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial,National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2017); and 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free State, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2022). In 2020, Rennie received the ACMI + Artbank Commission, creating a three-channel video installation titled What Do We Want?
Visible Invisible
2017
Always was always will be
2012
T2 Building, Sydney
INITIATION
2013
Installation view
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Public art installation
2016
St+Art Festival
Invisible Visible
2016
Blackartprojects
Mirri sculpture
2018
Point Leo Estate
No Sleep Till Dreamtime - Side B
2014
Installation view
OA_RR
2017
Installation view
2017
Rekospective
2011
Installation view
Lighting the Sails - Songlines
2016
Projection for Vivid Festival
Wall drawings
2016
Installation view
Warriors Come Out To Play
2014
Cemeti Art House, Yogjakarta, Indonesia
Untitled #3
2019
Flashe and pigment on linen with aluminium stretchers
180.0 x 110.0 cm
Neo Geo II
2019
Installation view
Neo Geo II
2019
Installation view
Untitled #1
2019
Flashe and pigment on linen with aluminium stretchers
150.0 x 150.0 cm
Untitled # 7
2019
flashe and acylic on linen
120.0 x 180.0 cm
OA in LA
2020
Installation view
OA in LA
2020
Installation view
OA in LA
2020
Installation view
OA IV
2020
acrylic pigment on linen and aluminium stretchers
150.0 x 150.0 cm
BUMALA-Y
2020
synthetic polymer, Flashe, and pigment on canvas
200.0 x 200.0 cm
OA RECKONING I–IV
2020
installation view
OA RECKONING I–IV
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING I
2020
synthetic polymer and gold mirrored acrylic
150.0 x 120.0 cm
RECKONING II
2020
synthetic polymer and gold mirrored acrylic
150.0 x 120.0 cm
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
RECKONING
2020
installation view
2NGAARR
2021
pigment and acrylic on linen
200.0 x 200.0 cm
NGUWA
2021
pigment and acrylic on linen
150.0 x 150.0 cm
WARRANGGAL II
2021
pigment and acrylic on linen
150.0 x 150.0 cm
YALIWUNGA
2021
pigment and acrylic on linen
150.0 x 150.0 cm
NGUWA RELENTLESS
2021
synthetic polymer and pink mirrored acrylic
150.0 x 120.0 cm
YALIWUNG RELENTLESS
2021
synthetic polymer and blue mirrored acrylic
150.0 x 120.0 cm
RELENTLESS Totem I
2021
RELENTLESS Totem II
2021
automotive spray on stainless steel
220.0 x 85.0 x 50.0 cm
RELENTLESS Totem III
2021
automotive spray on stainless steel
230.0 x 70.0 x 50.0 cm
2STRONG_RELENTLESS
2021
mirrored pink acrylic
117.0 x 112.0 x 2.0 cm
STRONG_RELENTLESS
2021
mirrored blue acrylic
117.0 x 112.0 x 2.0 cm
RELENTLESS
2021
installation view
RELENTLESS
2021
installation view
RELENTLESS
2021
installation view