Window Dressing LI: Renee Lai: In Formation, Waiting
Window Dressing LI
Renee Lai: In Formation, Waiting
Exhibition Dates: February 16, 2026 – February 22, 2026
Artist Reception: Friday, February 20, 2026, 6-8pm
Artist Statement:
I make paintings and drawings that ask questions about what it means to be an American. I am interested in the tension between the role of a country that ties disparate people together and the role of the individual. I explore this idea with repeated silhouettes of myself, arranged in a linear formation against a background of repetitive lines. The figures are faceless, in shadow, their intention ambiguous and threatening. This work is part of a larger series of paintings that uses recurring figures against varying backgrounds of lines that refer to fences and borders. Groups of people are arranged in military formation, scattered loosely around the composition to suggest a crowd, or staggered in a line, evoking protest lines, school yards, or surrender.
About the artist:
Renee Lai is an artist and writer who works in painting and drawing. Lai graduated with her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. She holds an undergraduate degree in English and Studio Art with honors from Dartmouth College, and she also studied painting at the New York Studio School. Lai’s work has been exhibited nationally, most recently in Austin at GrayDuck Gallery.
About the Window Dressing Project:
Window Dressing highlights the work of new members, emerging, local, and underrepresented artists with short-run shows on view while the main gallery is closed for installation. Window Dressing artists will explore the potential of our storefront window space, experimenting with the possibilities of limitation. Exhibitions are on view 24/7 through the gallery’s front glass.
Window Dressing LI
Renee Lai: In Formation, Waiting
Exhibition Dates: February 16, 2026 – February 22, 2026
Artist Reception: Friday, February 20, 2026, 6-8pm
Exhibition on view 24 hours a day in ICOSA’s storefront window
ICOSA Collective Gallery
916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2, #102, Austin, TX 78702
www.icosacollective.com
www.reneelai.com
https://www.instagram.com/reneelai14/