Product Designer Sonia Renard

Sonia Renard was born in Tours, France. She studied in France and Germany. Other locations where she gained artistic and cultural experience are Sweden and mainly Mexico and Iceland. After 18 years in Hamburg she is now living in South Brittany in France.

The entire oeuvre of this artist is dominated by symbols. They represent the major inventory of her picture language and regularly appear in her paintings, drawings and graphics. She thus combines motives from the animal kingdom and botany with items of modern technology, old scripts with figures and computer symbols, everyday life with myths and legends.

In addition to painting, she also works as a graphic artist and online designer. Sonia Renard uses the same motives, however in other variations in her graphic art. It is very important to her that the painting is expressed by the choice of colour and the quality of areas and strokes. 

Training

• 1987 Licence d'Arts Plastiques, Sorbonne, Paris

• 1985 Master student under Professor Emil Cimiotti

• 1982-1985 Hochschule für Bildende Künste (Arts College) Brunswick, Germany

• 1983 Diplôme National Supérieur d'Expression Plastique

• 1977-1983 Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts, Angers, France

Single artist exhibitions

• 2003 "Bye Bye Germany", Künstlerhaus Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany

• 2003 "Vive la France", Chursächsische Festspiele, Kunstwandelhalle Bad Elster, Germany

• 2002 "KODE X – Codes and Symbols – Communication in the old and new world", Deutsche TelekomT-Punkt Business, Hamburg, Germany

• 2001 "Behind Closed Doors", Smart Café, Vienna, Austria

• 2000 "Im Dunklen des Queries", Künstlerhaus Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany

• 1999 "Eine Kleine Reise in der Welt der Gefühle (A Short Trip to the World of Emotion", St. Spiritus, Greifswald, Germany

• 1999 "Aquatische Zeichen/signes aquatiques (aquatic signs)", Institut Français de Rostock, Rostock, Germany

• 1998 Galeries Lafayette, Berlin, Germany

• 1998 "Carte blanche à Sonia Renard et Richard Mansfeld", Institut Français and Galerie Mitte, Dresden, Germany

• 1998 "Zweideux", GaDeWe, Galerie des Westens, Bremen, Germany

• 1997 Galerie C15, Lohmann Collection, Hamburg, Germany

• 1996 "Kuriositätenkabinett", Reinbek Palace, Reinbek, Germany

• 1995 Kunstverein Lingenfeld, Lingenfeld, Germany

• 1995 "Souvenir d'Anjou", Künstlerhaus Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany

• 1994 Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Wessing Berenberg-Gossler Zimmermann Lange, Hamburg, Germany

• 1993 "Bilderreisen", Burg Kniphausen Foundation, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

• 1993 "Flod og Fjara", Galerie Portid, Hafnarfjördur, Iceland

• 1992 "Milagro", Künstlerhaus Cuxhaven, Cuxhaven, Germany

• 1992 Galeria Expositum, Mexico City, Mexico

Joint exhibitions

• 2004 "Déjà vu", Künstlerhaus Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany

• 2003 "Windspiele", Künstlerhaus Cuxhaven, Cuxhaven, Germany

• 2002 "IKONEN – a meeting of Moldavian and Breton icons", Künstlerhaus Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany

• 2000 "Paricutin, Actions in Site", Michoacan, Mexico

• 2000 "Zwischenbilanz", Sammlung Stiftung Burg Kniphausen, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

• 1997 "Frauenhände aus Schwesterstädten", Dresden, Germany

• 1993 "The Tree of Life", Museo de Arte Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico

• 1993 "Ein anderer Blick als Fremder in Hamburg", Altona-Rathaus, Hamburg, Germany

• 1992 Monterrey, Mexico

• 1992 "Notdienst", Hamburg, Germany

• 1991 "Listahátid í Hafnarfirdi", Island

• 1991 "Hafnarfjördur", Island

• 1991 Cuajimalpa, Desierto de los Leones, Mexico City, Mexico

• 1991 Instituto Mexiquense de Cultura, Museo de Arte Moderno, Toluca, Mexico

• 1990 "2nd International Sculpture Encounter", Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes, Mexico City, Mexico

• 1989 "Art '89", Härnösand, Sweden

• 1988 "Sculptures sur la Loire", Saumur, France

• 1985 "Meisterschüler ‘85", Braunschweig, Bonn, Troisdorf, Leverkusen, Germany

• 1983 "ZZ", Saumur, France

Scholarships

• 1984-1985 DAAD [Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service)]

• 1983-1984 Franco-German Youth Exchange

Artist in residence

• 1993 at Künstlerhaus Cuxhaven, Germany

• 1992 at Sebastian Escultor's Studio, Mexico City

• 1991 at Straumur Art Commune, Iceland

Work in Public Art Collections

• Hafnarfjördur Open Air Museum, Iceland

• Hafnarfjördur School of Fine Arts, Iceland

• Municipal Collection, Härnösand, Sweden

• Burg Kniphausen Foundation, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

• Municipal Collection, Cuxhaven, Germany

• Kreissparkasse Syke, Syke, Germany

Bibliography

• 1981 "Shoes & Shit", Aya Press, Toronto, Canada

Website:  www.soniarenard.com