Nala Ren
All Consuming
Painting
2021
acrylics on rice
An intersection of my culture and my education, All Consuming features artworks famed in the Western sphere meticulously painted onto grains of rice. Growing up, I always felt separated from the Western ideals of what art should be, and discouraged by the disparity between those ideals and my own beliefs. All Consuming represents my attempt to reconcile the fact that most people picture a bearded white man when they think of the great painters of the past. By recreating these famous paintings on something so fundamental, yet so fragile as a single grain of rice, we can reframe the way we glorify Western art history.