“I was born with a paintbrush in my hand.”
René Dickerson
Born March 12, 1951 in Oakland, California, René Dickerson’s father must have guessed his son’s proclivities because he named him after the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte. His parents realized the natural creative talent of their son and supplied him with art books and art tools when he was a boy. When René was just six years of age, his father took him to visit the studio of a friend who was a painter, and museums to inspire him because he loved to draw. At that young age, René knew he wanted to become an artist. In High School, he was already working on small advertising campaigns in his county. It was when he was in his 20s that his first three major art exhibitions took place at the annual Alameda County Fair, where he won several art awards. Undeniably, this autodidact was to become a star talent.
This natural talent—combined with his study of the Modern Masters of the Early 20th Century, the Surrealists thereafter, his own unique techniques honed while working as a graphic designer for the United States Military
in the 1970s, subsequent work as a graphic designer in advertising, and years of exhibiting his work—renders René’s works today as true masterpieces. By the 1990s, after years of running his own gallery in Oakland, René was exhibiting in the well-known Union Square Gallery in San Francisco, catering to an international clientele. Shortly before this important time in René’s career, he had been introduced to Otis Williams, the living legend of The Temptations. Otis Williams attended René’s art opening at the Union Square Gallery in San Francisco, becoming a collector of René’s work himself, and helping to lead the way to other art collectors including Berry Gordy and Oprah Winfrey.
In 2001, René moved with his wife Lynda and son Kendall to the Washington D.C. area on the East Coast. He was initially promoted in the main galleries with the help of L&L Fine Art as his personal agent. The Washington D.C. international clientele added to his collector base and inspired René to experiment with
styles and and techniques. In 2011, at the Medlin Art Gallery in Leesburg, Virginia, René unveiled his iconic artwork “My Girl.” René developed the artwork to commemorate the Smokey Robinson song written 60 years ago for the Temptations. His friend Otis Williams and the Temptations attended the unveiling. In 2024, René created a new “My Girl” painting for the 60th Anniversary celebration of the song.
Recently, René has developed a painting style he calls “Linear Art.” Added to his cubistic and surrealistic influences, his Linear Art is truly unique and spectacular. René remains loyal to his subjects of iconic Pop Culture figures in entertainment and media, Abstract cubistic and expressionistic human activities of all sorts, Jazz and its musicians, and Motown and its artists. René Dickerson is a classic and contemporary modern artist wrapped into one. He is an American creative force to be treasured.