NEW YORK: RENÉE STOUT

Truth-telling

May 9 - July 12, 2025

MARC STRAUS
57 Walker Street
New York, NY

Renée Stout’s Truth-telling, her second solo exhibition with the gallery, offers an intimate look into the artist’s ongoing exploration of drawing, painting, and sculpture as interconnected forms of expression. Drawing from her daily journaling practice, Stout transforms sketches, notes, and intuitive marks into layered artworks that invite viewers to trace the evolution of her ideas from private gesture to public form.

Though not overtly political, her work is deeply responsive to the times, shaped by her life in Washington, D.C., and the current climate of fractured discourse. Pieces like The Ugly Truth and Truth Telling Kit reflect a nuanced reckoning with frustration, complexity, and the elusive nature of truth. Stout’s work engages with the philosophical tradition of truth-telling, examining who has the right to speak truth, and under what conditions.

Rooted in her Southern heritage, Stout’s practice draws on African American spiritual traditions, folklore, and histories of resilience. Through mixed-media works and sculptural installations, she invokes practices like hoodoo and folk magic, channeling the healing power of ancestral knowledge. Her longstanding use of a spiritualist alter ego underscores her interest in the unseen and the transformative potential of belief and ritual. Ultimately, Truth-telling is a testament to the power of art to speak with honesty, integrity, and care.

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