Renz Renderz: Creating a New Reality
Written by T.K. Mills
Traditional art and the digital realm are often framed in antagonistic terms, the idea being if one doesn’t cherish the former, it will be eradicated by the latter. However, there are those who embrace the tools of the future and reject the simplistic binary – enter Ren Ciarrocchi, aka Renz Renderz.
“It’s been a repeating pattern in my life that I gravitate towards emerging technologies, which brought me to where I am today,” Ren said of her interest in 3D modeling.
“It’s been a repeating pattern in my life that I gravitate towards emerging technologies, which brought me to where I am today.”
Building her artistic portfolio through platforms such as Unreal Engine, she has a knack for creating aesthetic 3D realms tailor-made for the age of the metaverse. Born and raised in the suburbs of Philly, Ren moved to New York for college at Fordham University where she studied Digital Technologies and Emerging Media, as well as Spanish. As part of her education, she did a bit of traveling, spending a semester in London and another in Spain at the University of Granada. By the time we crossed paths, she was finishing up her Master’s Degree at NYU with a concentration in Integrated Design and Media.
I first met Ren at the now defunct EmpireDAO, a hub for networking among crypto creatives and the New York NFT community. However, her journey began from an analog grounding. Like many artists, she started her creative exploration with crayons and markers. In middle school she received her first camera, and photography took over her life.
“I found a whole new creative medium to express myself and share my perspective with friends and family,” Ren shared with me. “Photography allowed me to convey the way that I see the world… it’s calculating those light bounces, it’s calculating those reflections.”
Her passion led her toward fashion photography, working for an events company and collaborating with different designers. She was drawn to the aesthetics of fashion, a trait that can be seen in her 3D modeling work, which shimmers with glitter and glamor. While the industry remains close to her heart, she realized photography wasn’t what she wanted to pursue as a full-time career. It was during this period of sorting out her future she came across the NYU program in Integrated Design and Media.
“It was the only graduate program I applied for, and I got in with a scholarship. And once I got there, I was introduced to Unreal Engine and 3D modeling and I was expected to create these projects right away.” The pressure pushed her to learn quickly, but also inspired her to see what she could do. “I realized what the possibilities and capabilities were, I quickly realized, “This is absolutely what I was meant to be doing.”
“I’ve always been saying New York is where I’ll make my millions and I’ll go get my penthouse wherever. I’ve always wanted my penthouse, that’s one of my goals. So, I was like, well, why don’t I just give it to myself? Why don’t I just make it in the virtual world?”
Scrolling through her feed, I was drawn in by the sparkle of her digital worlds. Kaleidoscopic designs shimmer in black and white, contrasted against vibrant red overtones. Displaying a capacity for imagination, some of the renderings are abstracted concepts while others are a virtual tour into fully immersive buildings. One of my favorites is ‘After the After Party’ which leads the viewer through the shambles of a penthouse, remnants of a wild night.
“The architectural structure started as something that I just had a fondness for… And then, I realized, ‘Oh, wait, there’s actual functional use for this in the metaverse.’” Ren explained.
“The After Party is one of the pieces that I really enjoy – the night after a wonderful penthouse party, the place is completely trashed. That one was very fun to get detail oriented in, you know, throwing things around the apartment that I built.” She continued, “I’ve always been saying New York is where I’ll make my millions and I’ll go get my penthouse wherever. I’ve always wanted my penthouse, that’s one of my goals. So, I was like, well, why don’t I just give it to myself? Why don’t I just make it in the virtual world?”
One of the most striking elements in Ren’s work is the potency of color. The aesthetic gives off a vibe of both luxury and playfulness. “I like to keep a clean color palette, black, white, and a pop of color. Red is simply the direction I go with and there’s a lot of reasons for that color specifically, but also at this point, that’s just kind of what my feed is running with, so I want to say that as well,” she explained.
“I’m making a virtual reality environment that questions the nature of reality. I’m going into a bunch of different heavy topics there, for example, how does language shape thought? I’m trying to call attention to what’s outside of the societal norms or just the way that we’ve been structured in modern life and how that’s not always in the best interest of humanity.”
Conceptually, she employs the limited range to accentuate the narrative of her work. “I want to tell my story and then, I can strategically use color to express further emotion.” Each of her pieces reads like a vignette, the viewer reading between the lines to understand the context.
“There’s a lot of pieces that I create where I’m trying to express what’s inside. Every artist is trying to put their personality and their thoughts out into the world.” On her concepts, she elaborated, “I’m making a virtual reality environment that questions the nature of reality. I’m going into a bunch of different heavy topics there, for example, how does language shape thought? I’m trying to call attention to what’s outside of the societal norms or just the way that we’ve been structured in modern life and how that’s not always in the best interest of humanity.”
On the note of heavy topics, we discussed the discourse around technology and art. Ren shared, “I definitely see skepticism in that people that don’t really understand what’s happening. I think that if you take the time to understand what these programs can do and understand the complexity of it, there’s so much potential. Once you start building, you start to realize, it’s like Legos, you can make little worlds.”
“When it comes to AI, coming from an artist’s perspective, I understand the concerns. But, you know, it’s never going to originate from your mind. You need to feel secure and confident in who you are and what you can offer to the world regardless of the quality of anyone else’s work.” She explained with self-assurance.
Ren’s knack for eloquence and optimistic approach have opened new doors with her career. Last year she was one of the keynote speakers at the 2022 Scope Art Fair during Miami Art Basel. “Art Basel was such a wonderful and chaotic experience for me as Miami always is. I got the speaking engagement through a connection that I made at EmpireDAO actually. I had the big LED wall behind me with my work. It was a surreal experience and one of my first major panels. That was just the start for me, it really boosted my confidence – it’s only up from there.”
More recently, Ren was tapped to take on the Creative Director role for NOLCHA shows, an award winning experiential events company. She oversaw one of their shows during NFT Week NYC, at the illustrious ArtsDistrict in Williamsburg.
Brimming with enthusiasm, Ren is ready for what’s next. “I have people in my life who really see the potential in me that I see for myself. I know that I have such a strong energy force and I’m excited to channel that through my art and also through the projects that I take on. It’s not just going to be about the art, it’s going to be about the people that I work with, the studios that I join, the projects that are really making a difference in the space.”
“I would like people to know that I am just going with the flow. You know, I just love to create, I like to express myself in the various emerging technologies that I can do that with. However, the artist life isn’t exactly something that I ever thought I would really be pursuing. I almost feel though I’m being thrown into it with all these opportunities and I’m just so grateful and so blessed to have those.”
“I would like people to know that I am just going with the flow. You know, I just love to create, I like to express myself in the various emerging technologies that I can do that with. However, the artist life isn’t exactly something that I ever thought I would really be pursuing. I almost feel though I’m being thrown into it with all these opportunities and I’m just so grateful and so blessed to have those.”
“As for web3, NFT’s, Crypto, and the Blockchain,” Ren says, “Regardless of the memes, the culture and what people are saying, it is that underlying technology that is going to carry us into the future – it’s happening, whether or not you care. People are already building, creating, and working in it. And I think it’s something to be very excited about.”
T.K. Mills is an art journalist based in New York City. After receiving a Master’s Degree in Global Affairs, he discovered a love for graffiti while backpacking through Cuba. T.K. has written for several art publications including SOLD, Global Street Art, and Arte Fuse. Additionally, he manages the street art blog, Well Pleased We Dream. Beyond art, T.K. loves reading and traveling.
